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"So  you  want  me  to  come  to  your  show,  do  you?"  said  Mr.  Harriman. 


Girl  Scouts  Series,  Volume  2 

The 
Girl  Scouts  Rally 

or 
Rosanna  Wins 


BY 

Katharine  Keene  Gait 


THE  SAALFIELD  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

CHICAGO  AKRON,  OHIO  NEW  YORK 

MADE  IN  U.   S.  A. 


Univ.  Lst: 


•22004 


Copyright,  1921,  by 
THE  SAALFIELD  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


THE 
GIRL  SCOUTS  SERIES 

1  THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  AT  HOME 

2  THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

3  THE  GIRL  SCOUT'S  TRIUMPH 


! 

7 


THE 
GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 


CHAPTER  I 

THREE  little  girls  sat  in  a  row  on  the  top  step  of 
a  beautiful  home  in  Louisville.  At  the  right  was 
a  dark-haired,  fairylike  child  on  whose  docked  hair 
a  velvet  bere"t,  or  French  officer's  cap,  sat  jauntily. 
Her  dark  eyes  were  round  and  thoughtful  as  she 
gazed  into  space.  There  was  a  little  wrinkle  be- 
tween her  curved  black  brows. 

Beside  her,  busily  knitting  on  a  long  red  scarf, 
sat  a  sparkling  little  girl  whose  hazel  eyes  danced 
under  a  fringe  of  blond  curls.  Her  dainty  motions 
and  her  pretty  way  of  tossing  back  her  beautiful 
hair  caused  people  to  stop  and  look  at  her  as  they 
passed,  but  Elise  was  all  unconscious  of  their  ad- 
miration. Indeed,  she  was  almost  too  shy,  and  few 
knew  how  full  of  fun  and  laughter  she  could  be. 

The  third  girl  wore  a  businesslike  beaver  hat  over 
her  blond  docked  hair,  and  her  great  eyes,  blue  and 
steady,  were  levelled  across  Elise,  who  knitted  on 
in  silence,  to  the  dark  girl  in  the  velvet  cap. 

Helen  Culver  spoke  at  last.     "  Well,  Eosanna, 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

I 

what  are  you  thinking?  Have  you  any  plan  at 
all?" 

The  dark  child  spoke.  "  No,  Helen,  I  can't  think 
of  a  thing.  It  makes  me  so  provoked !  " 

"Tell  me,  will  you  not?"  asked  Elise  in  her 
pretty  broken  English.  She  was  trying  so  hard  to 
speak  like  Rosanna  and  Helen  that  she  could 
scarcely  be  prevailed  upon  to  say  anything  in 
French. 

Many  months  had  passed  since  Elise,  in  the  care 
of  the  kind  ladies  of  the  American  Red  Cross,  had 
come  over  from  France  to  her  adopted  guardian, 
young  Mr.  Horton.  She  had  grown  to  be  quite 
American  during  that  time,  and  was  very  proud 
of  her  attainments.  The  dark  and  dreadful  past 
was  indeed  far  behind,  and  while  she  sometimes 
wept  for  her  dear  grandmother,  who  had  died  in 
Mr.  Horton's  tender  arms  in  the  old  chateau  at 
home,  she  loved  her  foster  mother,  Mrs.  Hargrave, 
with  all  her  heart.  And  with  Elise  laughing  and 
dancing  through  it,  the  great  old  Hargrave  house 
was  changed  indeed.  While  Elise  was  crossing  the 
ocean,  Mrs.  Hargrave  had  fitted  up  three  rooms 
for  her.  There  was  a  sitting-room,  that  was  like 
the  sunny  outdoors,  with  its  dainty  flowered 
chintzes,  its  ivory  wicker  furniture,  its  plants  and 
canaries  singing  in  wicker  cages.  Then  there  was 
a  bedroom  that  simply  put  you  to  sleep  just  to  look 
at  it:  all  blue  and  silver,  like  a  summer  evening. 
Nothing  sang  here,  but  there  was  a  big  music  box, 


fHE  GIRL  SCOUTS  EALLY 

I 

old  as  Mrs.  Hargrave  herself,  that  tinkled  Elise  to 
sleep  if  she  so  wished.     And  the  bathroom  was 
papered  so  that  you  didn't  look  at  uninteresting 
tiles  set  like  blocks  when  you  splashed  around  in 
the  tub.     No;  there  seemed  to  be  miles  and  mi] 
of  sunny  sea-beach  with  little  shells  lying  on  th< 
wet  sand  and  sea  gulls  swinging  overhead. 

Mrs.  Hargrave  was  so  delighted  with  all  this 
when  it  was  finished  that  it  made  her  discontented 
with  her  own  sitting-room  with  its  dim  old  hangings 
and  walnut  furniture. 

"  No  wonder  I  was  beginning  to  grow  old,"  she 
said  to  her  lifelong  friend,  Mrs.  Horton.  "No 
wonder  at  all !  All  this  dismal  old  stuff  is  going 
up  in  the  attic.  I  shall  bring  down  my  great  great- 
grandmother's  mahogany  and  have  all  my  wicker 
furniture  cushioned  with  parrots  and  roses." 

"  It  sounds  dreadful,"  said  Mrs.  Horton. 

"  It  won't  be,"  retorted  her  friend.  "  It  will  be 
perfectly  lovely.  Did  you  know  that  I  can  play 
the  piano?-  I  can,  and  well.  I  had  forgotten  it. 
I  am  going  to  have  birds  too  —  not  canaries,  but 
four  cunning  little  green  love-birds.  They  are  go- 
ing to  have  all  that  bay  window  for  themselves. 
And  I  shall  have  a  quarter  grand  piano  put  righi 
there." 

"  I  do  think  you  are  foolish,"  said  Mrs.  Horton, 
who  was  a  cautious  person.  "What  if  this  child 
turns  out  to  be  a  failure?  All  you  have  is  my  son's 
word  for  it,  and  what  does  a  boy  twenty-four  years 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

old  know  about  little  girls?  You  ought  to  wait 
and  see  what  sort  of  a  child  she  is." 

"  I  have  faith,  my  dear,"  said  her  friend.  "  I 
have  been  so  lonely  for  so  many  long  years  that  I 
feel  sure  that  at  last  the  good  Lord  is  going  to  send 
me  a  real  little  daughter." 

"  Cross-eyed  perhaps  and  with  a  frightful  dis- 
position," said  Mrs.  Horton.  "All  children  look 
like  angels  to  Robert." 

Mrs.  Hargrave  was  plucky.  "Very  well,  then; 
I  can  afford  to  have  her  eyes  straightened,  and  I 
will  see  what  I  can  do  about  the  temper." 

"  I  won't  tease  you  any  more,"  said  Mrs.  Horton. 
"  Robert  says  the  child  is  charming  and  good  as 
gold.  I  know  you  will  be  happy  with  her,  and  if 
you  find  that  she  is  too  much  of  a  care  for  you,  you 
can  simply  throw  her  right  back  on  Robert's  hands. 
I  don't  like  to  have  him  feel  that  he  has  no  responsi- 
bility in  the  matter." 

Elise  proved  to  be  all  that  Mrs.  Hargrave  had 
dreamed,  and  more.  She  sang  like  a  bird  and  Mrs. 
Hargrave  found  her  old  skill  returning  as  she 
played  accompaniments  or  taught  Elise  to  play  on 
the  pretty  piano.  And  the  little  girl,  who  was 
perfectly  happy,  repaid  her  over  and  over  in  love 
and  a  thousand  sweet  and  pretty  attentions.  Dear 
Mrs.  Hargrave,  who  had  been  so  lonely  that  she 
had  not  cared  particularly  whether  she  lived  or 
died,  found  herself  wishing  for  man^  jears  of 
life. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

The  three  little  girls,  Elise,  Rosanna,  of  whom 
you  have  perhaps  read,  and  her  friend  Helen  Cul- 
ver were  great  friends. 

They  went  to  school  and  studied  and  played  to- 
gether, and  Rosanna  and  Helen  were  both  Girl 
Scouts.  Elise  was  to  join  too,  as  soon  as  she  could 
qualify.  At  present,  as  Uncle  Robert  said  slangily, 
she  was  "  stuck  on  pie."  She  could  not  make  a 
crust  that  could  be  cut  or  even  saived  apart  al- 
though she  tried  to  do  so  with  all  the  earnestness  in 
the  world. 

Perhaps  you  girls  who  are  reading  this  remember 
Rosanna.  If  so,  you  will  be  glad  to  know  that  she 
grew  well  and  strong  again  after  her  accident  and 
continued  to  be  a  very  happy  little  girl  who  was 
devoted  to  her  grandmother,  who  in  turn  was  de- 
voted to  Rosanna.  The  beautiful  hair  that  Ro- 
sanna had  cut  off  was  allowed  to  stay  docked,  and 
that  was  a  great  relief  to  Rosanna,  who  was  always 
worried  by  the  weight  of  the  long  curls  that  hung 
over  her  shoulders  like  a  dark  glistening  cape.  It 
seemed  such  fun  to  be  able  to  shake  her  head  like 
a  pony  and  send  the  short,  thick  mane  flying  now 
that  it  was  cut  off. 

There  were  three  people  in  Rosanna's  home :  her 
stately  grandmother  Mrs.  Horton,  Uncle  Robert, 
of  whom  you  have  heard,  and  Rosanna  herself. 
Rosanna  had  had  a  maid,  of  Y/hom  she  was  very 
fond,  but  Minnie  was  at  home  preparing  to  marry 
the  young  man  to  whom  she  had  been  engaged  all 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

through  the  war.  He  was  at  home  again,  and  to- 
gether they  were  fitting  out  a  cunning  little  bunga- 
low in  the  Highlands.  As  soon  as  everything  was 
arranged  quite  to  their  satisfaction,  they  were  going 
to  be  married,  and  Minnie  vowed  that  she  could 
never  get  married  unless  she  could  have  a  real 
wedding  with  bridesmaids  and  all,  and  she  had  a 
scheme!  By  the  way  she  rolled  her  eyes  and  her 
young  man  chuckled,  it  seemed  as  though  it  must 
be  a  very  wonderful  scheme  indeed,  but  although 
all  three  girls  hung  around  her  neck  and  teased, 
not  another  word  would  she  say.  Minnie  had  two 
little  sisters  who  were  about  the  ages  of  Rosanna 
and  Elise  and  Helen,  but  they  did  not  know  what 
the  scheme  was  either.  It  was  very  trying. 

Helen  Culver  no  longer  lived  over  Mrs.  Horton's 
garage  and  her  father  no  longer  drove  the  Horton 
cars,  but  her  home  was  very  near  in  a  dear  little 
apartment  as  sweet  and  clean  and  dainty  as  it 
could  be.  Mr.  Culver  and  Uncle  Robert  were  often 
together  and  did  a  good  deal  of  figuring  and  draw- 
ing but  other  than  guessing  that  it  was  something 
to  do  with  Uncle  Robert's  business,  the  children  did 
not  trouble  their  heads. 

Helen  was  ahead  of  Rosanna  in  school.  She  had 
had  a  better  chance  to  start  with,  as  Rosanna  had 
only  had  private  teachers  and  so  had  had  no  rea- 
son to  strive  to  forge  ahead.  There  had  been  no 
one  to  get  ahead  of!  Now,  however,  she  was  study- 
ing to  such  good  purpose  that  she  hoped  soon  to 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

overtake  Helen.  But  it  was  a  hard  task,  because 
Helen  was  a  very  bright  little  girl  who  could  and 
would  and  did  put  her  best  effort  in  everything 
she  did. 

These,  then,  were  the  three  little  girls  who  sat 
on  Rosanna's  doorstep  and  smelled  the  burning 
leaves  and  enjoyed  the  beautiful  fall  day. 

"  Rosanna  is  so  good  at  making  plans,"  said 
Helen,  smiling  over  at  her  friend. 

"What  shall  your  good  plan  be  for?"  asked 
Elise. 

"  Don't  you  remember,  Elise,  our  telling  you 
about  the  picnic  we  had  once,  and  the  children  who 
took  supper  with  us?  " 

"Oh,  oui  —  yess,  yess!"  said  Elise,  correcting 
herself  hastily. 

"  And  we  told  you  how  we  took  them  home  and 
saw  poor  Gwenny,  their  sister,  who  is  so  lame  that 
she  cannot  wralk  at  all,  and  is  so  good  and  patient 
about  it?  We  mean  to  take  you  over  to  see  her, 
now  that  you  can  speak  English  so  nicely.  She 
wants  to  see  you  so  much." 

"  I  would  be  charm  to  go,"  declared  Elise,  nod- 
ding her  curly  head. 

"  Well,"  continued  Rosanna,  "  Gwenny's  mother 
says  that  Gwenny  could  be  cured,  but  that  it  would 
cost  more  than  she  could  ever  pay,  and  it  is 
nothing  that  she  could  get  done  at  the  free  dis- 
pensaries. Those  are  places  where  very,  very 
poor  people  can  go  and  get  good  doctors  and  nurses 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

and  advice  without  paying  anything  at  all,  but 
Gwenny  could  not  go  there. 

"  She  would  have  to  go  to  a  big  hospital  in  Cin- 
cinnati and  stay  for  a  long  while.  I  thought  about 
asking  my  grandmother  if  she  would  like  to  send 
Gwenny  there,  but  just  as  I  was  going  to  speak 
of  it  last  night,  she  commenced  to  talk  to  Uncle 
Robert  about  money,  and  I  heard  her  tell  him  that 
she  was  never  so  hard  up  in  her  life,  and  what  with 
the  Liberty  Loan  drives  taking  all  her  surplus  out 
of  the  banks,  and  the  high  rate  of  taxes,  she  didn't 
know  what  she  was  going  to  do.  So  I  couldn't  say 
a  thing." 

"  The  same  with  ma  maman,"  said  Elise.  "  She 
calls  those  same  taxes  robbers.  So  you  make  the 
plan?" 

"  That's  just  it :  I  don't,"  said  Rosanna  rue- 
fully. "  I  wish  I  could  think  up  some  way  to  earn 
money,  a  lot  of  it  ourselves." 

"  Let's  do  it ! "  said  Helen  in  her  brisk,  decided 
way. 

"  But  how?  "  questioned  Rosanna.  "  It  will  take 
«meh  a  lot  of  money,  Helen.  Hundreds  and  hun- 
dreds of  dollars,  maybe  thousands." 

"  I  should  think  the  thing  to  do  would  be  to  ask 
a  doctor  exactly  how  much  it  would  cost,  first  of 
all,"  said  the  practical  Helen. 

"  Another  thing,"  said  Rosanna,  "  Gwenny's 
family  is  very  proud.  They  don't  like  to  feel  that 
people  are  taking  care  of  them.  The  Associated 


THE  GIEL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

Charities  gave  Gwenny  a  chair  once,  so  she  could 
wheel  herself  around,  but  it  made  them  feel  badly, 
although  Gwenny's  mother  said  she  knew  that  it 
was  the  right  thing  to  accept  it." 

"  She  will  feel  that  it  is  the  thing  to  do  if  we 
can  pay  to  have  Gwenny  cured  too,"  said  Helen. 
"You  know  how  sensible  she  is,  Rosanna.  She 
must  realize  that  everybody  knows  that  she  does 
all  she  can  in  this  world  for  her  family.  I  heard 
mother  say  she  never  saw  any  woman  work  so  hard 
to  keep  a  home  for  her  children. 

"  Mother  says  she  never  rests.  And  she  is  not 
trained,  you  know,  to  do  special  work  like  type- 
writing, or  anything  that  is  well  paid,  so  she  has 
to  be  practical  nurse  and  things  like  that." 

"Aren't  all  nurses  practical?"  asked  Kosanna, 
a  frown  of  perplexity  on  her  brow. 

"  Trained  nurses  are  not,"  replied  Helen. 
"  Trained  nurses  get  thirty  and  forty  dollars  a  week 
and  a  practical  nurse  gets  seven  or  eight,  and  works 
harder.  But  you  see  she  never  had  a  chance  to 
get  trained.  It  takes  a  long  time,  like  going  to 
school  and  graduating,  only  you  go  to  the  hospital 
instead." 

"  I  know,"  said  Rosanna.  "  There  were  what 
they  called  undergraduate  nurses  at  the  Norton 
Infirmary  and  they  wore  a  different  uniform.  But 
they  were  all  pretty,  and  so  good  to  me." 

"  W«ll,  you  can't  do  much  on  what  Gwenny's 
mother  makes,"  said  Helen. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Elise  sighed.  "  It  is  so  sad/'  she  declared.  "  Do 
the  robber  Taxes  attack  her  also?  " 

"  No ;  she  has  nothing  to  attack,"  laughed  Helen. 

"  Is  Mees  Gwenny  a  Girl  Scout?  "  asked  Elise. 

"  No,  but  her  sister  Mary  is.  She  went  in  about 
the  time  Rosanna  joined,  but  she  does  not  belong 
to  oui?,  group.  They  live  in  another  part  of  the 
city." 

"Will  my  allowance  help?"  asked  Elise.  "I 
will  give  it  so  gladly.  Ma  maman  is  so  good,  so  gen- 
erous! I  never  can  spend  the  half.  I  save  it  to 
help  a  little  French  child,  but  surely  if  Mees 
Gwenny  is  your  dear  friend  and  she  suffers " 

"  She  suffers  all  right,"  declared  Helen.  "  Oh, 
Rosanna,  we  have  got  to  think  up  some  way  to  help 
her!  I  am  going  to  ask  mother." 

"  Helen,  do  you  remember  what  our  Captain  said 
at  the  very  last  meeting?  No,  you  were  not  there; 
I  remember  now.  She  said  that  we  must  learn  to 
act  for  ourselves  and  not  forever  be  asking  help 
from  our  families.  She  said  that  we  should  always 
consult  them  before  we  made  any  important  move, 
but  she  wanted  us  to  learn  to  use  our  own  brains. 
Now  it  does  look  to  me  as  though  this  was  a  time 
to  use  all  the  brains  we  have.  Think  how  wonder- 
ful it  would  be  if  we  could  only  do  this  ourselves !  " 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  we?  Just  us  three,  or 
the  Girl  Scouts  in  our  group?  "  asked  Helen. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Rosanna  dismally.  "  I 
really  haven't  the  first  idea!  Let's  all  think." 


CHAPTER  II 

THREE  in  a  row,  they  sat  and  thought  while  the 
leaf  piles  smouldered  and  the  afternoon  went  by. 
Plan  after  plan  was  offered  and  discussed  and  cast 
aside.  At  last  Elise  glanced  at  her  little  silver 
wrist  watch,  and  wound  up  her  scarf. 

"  Time  for  maman  to  come  home,"  she  said. 
"  She  likes  it  when  I  meet  her  at  the  door  with  my 
love,  and  myself  likes  it  too." 

"  Of  course  you  do,  you  dear ! "  said  Helen. 
"  Good-bye !  We  will  keep  on  thinking  and  per- 
haps tomorrow  we  will  be  able  to  get  hold  of  some 
plan  that  will  be  worth  acting  on.  I  must  go  too, 
Rosanna." 

"  I  will  walk  around  the  block  with  you,"  said 
Rosanna,  rising  and  calling  a  gay  good-bye  after 
Elise.  She  went  with  Helen  almost  to  the  door 
of  her  apartment  and  then  returned  very  slowly. 
How  she  did  long  to  help  Gwenny!  There  must 
be  some  way.  Poor  patient,  uncomplaining 
Gwenny!  Rosanna  could  not  think  of  her  at  all 
without  an  ache  in  her  heart.  She  was  so  thin  and 
her  young  face  had  so  many,  many  lines  of  pain. 

She  was  so  thoughtful  at  dinner  time  that  her 
Uncle  Robert  teased  her  about  it.  He  wanted  to 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

know  if  she  had  robbed  a  bank  or  had  decided  to 
run  off  and  get  married  and  so  many  silly  things 
that  his  mother  told  him  to  leave  Rosanna  alone. 
Rosanna  smiled  and  simply  went  on  thinking. 
After  dinner  she  slipped  away  and  went  up  to  her 
own  sitting-room.  Then  Uncle  Robert  commenced 
to  worry  in  earnest.  He  had  his  hat  in  his  hand 
ready  to  go  over  and  see  Mr.  Culver,  but  he  put  it 
down  again  and  went  up  to  Rosanna1  s  room,  three 
steps  at  a  time. 

Rosanna  called  "  Come,'7  in  answer  to  his  knock 
in  quite  her  usual  tone  of  voice,  and  Uncle  Robert 
heaved  a  sigh  of  relief. 

He  stuck  his  head  in  the  door,  and  said  in  a  meek 
tone :  "  I  thought  I  would  come  up  to  call  on  you, 
Princess.  Mother  is  expecting  a  bridge  party,  and 
it  is  no  place  for  me." 

"  That  is  what  I  thought,"  said  Rosanna.  "  Be- 
sides, I  wanted  to  think." 

"  Well,  I  am  known  as  a  hard  thinker  myself," 
said  Uncle  Robert.  "  If  you  will  invite  the  part 
of  me  that  is  out  here  in  the  hall  to  follow  my  head, 
I  will  be  glad  to  help  you  if  I  can." 

"  I  don't  see  why  I  shouldn't  tell  you  about  things 
anyway,"  mused  Rosanna.  "  You  are  not  a  parent, 
are  you?" 

" No,  ma'am,  I  am  not"  said  Uncle  Robert. 
«  Nary  a  parent !  Why?  " 

He  came  in  without  a  further  invitation  and  sat 
down  in  Rosanna's  biggest  chair.  At  that  it 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

squeaked  in  an  alarming  manner,  and  Uncle  Robert 
made  remarks  about  furniture  that  wouldn't  hold 
up  a  growing  boy  like  himself.  When  he  appeared 
to  be  all  settled  and  comfortable,  and  Rosanna  had 
shoved  an  ash  tray  over  in  a  manner  that  Uncle 
Robert  said  made  him  feel  like  an  old  married  man, 
he  said,  "  Now  fire  ahead !  "  and  Rosanna  did. 

She  told  him  all  about  Gwenny  and  her  family  — 
her  mother  and  Mary  and  selfish  Tommy,  and  good 
little  Myron,  and  Luella  and  the  heavy  baby,  and 
the  story  was  so  well  told  that  Uncle  Robert  had 
hard  work  holding  himself  down.  He  felt  as 
though  the  check  book  in  his  pocket  was  all  full 
of  prickers  which  were  sticking  into  him,  and  in 
another  pocket  a  bank  book  with  a  big,  big  deposit, 
put  in  it  that  very  day,  kept  shouting,  "  Take  care 
of  Gwenny  yourself ! "  so  loudly  that  he  was  sure 
Rosanna  must  hear. 

But  Uncle  Robert  knew  that  that  was  not  the 
thing  for  him  to  do.  He  could  not  take  all  the 
beauty  and  generosity  out  of  their  effort  when 
their  dear  little  hearts  were  so  eagerly  trying  to 
find  a  way  to  help. 

He  hushed  the  bank  book  up  as  best  he  could  and 
said  to  Rosanna,  "  I  don't  worry  a  minute  about 
this  thing,  Rosanna.  I  know  perfectly  well  that 
you  will  think  up  some  wonderful  plan  that  will 
bring  you  wads  of  money,  and  as  long  as  I  am  not 
a  parent,  I  don- 1  see  why  I  can't  be  your  councillor. 
There  might  be  things  that  I  could  attend  to.  I 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

could  take  the  tickets  at  the  door  or  something 
like  that." 

"  Tickets ! "  said  Rosanna,  quite  horrified. 
"  Why,  Uncle  Bob,  we  can't  give  a  show!  " 

"  I  don't  see  why  not,  if  you  know  what  you  want 
to  show,"  answered  Uncle  Robert.  "  You  see  bene- 
fit performances  given  all  the  time  for  singers  and 
pianists  and  actors  who  want  to  retire  with  a  good 
income.  Some  of  them  have  one  every  year,  but 
you  couldn't  do  that  for  Gwenny.  However  I'll 
stand  by  whenever  you  want  me,  you  may  feel  sure 
of  that,  and  if  I  can  advance  anything  in  the  way  of 
a  little  money  — "  he  tapped  the  bank  book,  which 
jumped  with  joy. 

"  Oh,  thank  you !  "  said  Rosanna.  "  We  will  be 
sure  to  tell  you  as  soon  as  we  can  hit  on  a  plan,  and 
we  will  have  you  to  go  to  for  advice,  and  that  will 
be  such  a  help !  " 

After  Uncle  Bob  had  taken  himself  off,  Rosanna 
went  slowly  to  bed.  She  thought  while  she  was 
undressing  and  after  she  had  put  out  the  light 
and  was  waiting  for  her  grandmother  to  come  in 
and  kiss  her  good-night.  And  the  last  thing  before 
she  dropped  off  to  sleep  her  mind  was  whirling 
with  all  sorts  of  wild  ideas,  but  not  one  seemed  to 
be  just  what  was  wanted.  One  thing  seemed  to 
grow  clearer  and  bigger  and  stronger,  and  that  was 
the  feeling  that  Gwenny  must  be  helped. 

The  first  thing  that  she  and  Helen  asked  each 
other  the  next  day  when  they  met  on  the  way  to 


THE  GIEL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

school  was  like  a  chorus.  They  both  said,  "  Uid 
you  think  of  anything?  "  and  neither  one  had. 

Sad  to  relate,  neither  Eosanna  nor  Helen  made 
brilliant  recitations  that  day,  and  coming  home 
from  school  Helen  said  gravely,  "  What  marks  di(J 
you  get  today,  Rosanna?  " 

"  Seventy/'  answered  Rosanna  with  a  flush. 

"  I  got  seventy-two,  and  it  was  a  review.  Oh 
dear,  this  won't  do  at  all!  I  was  thinking  about 
Gwenny,  and  trying  to  work  up  a  plan  so  hard  that 
I  just  couldn't  study.  Either  we  have  positively 
got  to  think  up  something  right  away,  or  else  we 
will  have  to  make  up  our  minds  that  we  must  do 
our  thinking  on  Saturdays  only.  Can't  you  think 
of  a  single  thing?  " 

"I  seem  to  have  glimmers  of  an  idea,"  said 
Rosanna,  "  but  not  very  bright  ones." 

"  All  I  can  think  of  is  to  get  all  the  girls  in  our 
group  to  make  fancy  things  and  have  a  fair." 

"  That  is  not  bad,"  said  Rosanna,  "  but  would 
we  make  enough  to  count  for  much?  Even  if  all 
the  girls  in  our  group  should  go  to  work  and  work 
every  single  night  after  school  we  would  not  be 
able  to  make  enough  fancy  articles  to  make  a  whole 
sale." 

"  I  suppose  not,"  sighed  Helen.  "  This  is  Thurs- 
day. If  we  can't  think  of  something  between  now 
and  Saturday  afternoon,  let's  tell  the  girls  about 
it  at  the  meeting  and  see  what  they  suggest,  and 
ask  if  they  would  like  to  help  Gwenny.  But  oh, 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

I  wish  we  could  be  the  ones  to  think  up  something ! 
You  see  Gwenny  sort  of  belongs  to  us,  and  I  feel 
as  though  we  ought  to  do  the  most  of  the  work." 

That  night  at  dinner  there  was  a  guest  at 
Rosanna's  house,  young  Doctor  MacLaren,  who  had 
been  in  service  with  Uncle  Robert.  Rosanna  quite 
lost  her  heart  to  him,  he  was  so  quiet  and  so  gentle 
and  smiled  so  sweetly  at  her  grandmother.  She 
sat  still  as  a  mouse  all  through  the  meal,  listening 
and  thinking. 

After  dinner  when  they  had  all  wandered  into 
the  lovely  old  library  that  smelled  of  books,  she 
sat  on  the  arm  of  her  Uncle  Robert's  chair,  and 
while  her  grandmother  was  showing  some  pictures 
to  the  doctor,  she  whispered  to  her  uncle,  "  Don't 
you  suppose  the  doctor  could  tell  us  how  much  it 
would  cost  to  cure  Gwenny?" 

"  You  tickle  my  ear !  "  he  said,  and  bit  Rosanna's. 

"  Behave !  "  said  Rosanna  sternly.  "  Don't  you 
suppose  he  could?" 

"  I  am  sure  he  could,  sweetness,  but  I  sort  o' 
think  he  would  have  to  see  Gwenny  first.  Shall 
we  ask  him  about  it?  " 

"Oh,  please  let's!"  begged  Rosanna. 

"Th'  deed  is  did!"  said  Uncle  Robert,  and  as 
soon  as  he  could  break  into  the  conversation,  he 
said :  "  Rick,  Rosanna  and  I  want  to  consult  you/7 

Rosanna  squeezed  his  hand  for  that;  it  was  so 
much  nicer  than  to  put  it  all  off  on  her. 

Doctor    MacLaren    laughed    his    nice,    friendly 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

laugh.  "  Well,  if  you  are  both  in  some  scheme,  I 
should  say  it  was  time  for  honest  fellows  like  me 
to  be  careful.  Let's  hear  what  it  is." 

"  You  tell,  Rosanna,"  said  Uncle  Robert.  "  I 
can't  talk  and  smoke  all  at  the  same  time." 

So  Rosanna,  very  brave  because  of  Uncle  Robert's 
strong  arm  around  her,  commenced  at  the  begin- 
ning and  told  all  about  Gwenny  and  her  family, 
and  her  bravery  in  bearing  the  burden  of  her  lame- 
ness and  ill  health.  And  she  went  on  to  tell  him 
about  the  Girl  Scouts  and  all  the  good  they  do, 
and  that  she  was  sure  that  they  would  help,  but 
they  (she  and  Helen)  hated  to  put  it  before  the 
meeting  unless  they  had  some  idea  of  the  amount 
of  money  it  would  be  necessary  for  them  to  earn. 
And  another  thing;  what  if  they  should  start  to 
get  the  money,  and  couldn't?  What  a  dreadful 
disappointment  it  would  be  for  Gwenny  and  indeed 
all  the  family  down  to  Baby  Christopher! 

The  two  young  men  heard  her  out.  Then  Uncle 
Robert  said: 

"  I  don't  know  the  exact  reason,  but  it  seems 
that  you  cannot  work  with  these  Girl  Scouts  if 
you  are  a  parent.  Are  you  a  parent,  Rick?  " 

"  Please  don't  tease,  Uncle  Bobby,'7  said  Rosanna 
pleadingly.  "It  is  only  that  we  Scout  girls  are 
supposed  to  try  to  do  things  ourselves  without  ex- 
pecting all  sorts  of  help  from  our  mothers  and 
fathers  —  and  grandmothers  and  uncles,"  she 
added  rather  pitifully. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Robert  patted  her  hand.  Rosanna  was  an 
orphan. 

"  I  see  now  how  it  is,"  he  said.  "  Tell  us,  Rick, 
what  you  think  about  this/' 

"  I  think  that  Saturday  morning,  when  there  is 
no  school,  Rosanna  might  take  me  to  call  on  Miss 
Gwenny  and  we  will  see  about  what  the  trouble  is. 
And  I  think  as  she  does,  that  it  would  be  very  wise 
to  say  nothing  at  all  about  this  plan  until  we  know 
something  about  the  case.  It  would  be  cruel  to 
get  the  child's  hopes  up  for  nothing.  If  there  is 
anything  that  I  dare  do,  I  will  promise  you  now 
that  I  will  gladly  do  it,  but  I  cannot  tell  until  I 
see  her." 

"  Thank  you  ever  and  ever  so  much ! "  said 
Rosanna.  "  We  won't  tell  anyone  a  thing  about 
it!" 

"  Can  you  drive  over  to  Gwenny's  tomorrow  and 
tell  her  mother  that  a  doctor  friend  of  mine  is  com- 
ing to  see  her?  "  asked  Uncle  Robert. 

"  Indeed  I  can  if  grandmother  is  willing !  "  said 
Rosanna.  "  Oh,  I  do  feel  as  though  we  will  think 
up  some  way  of  earning  the  money !  " 

Rosanna  was  so  happy  that  she  overslept  next 
morning  and  was  nearly  late  getting  to  school,  so 
she  did  not  see  Helen  until  they  were  dismissed. 
They  walked  slowly  home  and  sat  down  on  their  fa- 
vorite place  on  the  top  step.  They  had  been  sitting 
quietly,  watching  a  group  of  children  playing  in  the 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

leaves,  when  Rosanna  jumped  to  her  feet  and  com- 
menced to  dance  up  and  down. 

"Oh,  Helen,  Helen,"  she  cried.  "I  believe  I 
have  it!  I  believe  I  have  it!  Oh,  I  am  so  ex- 
cited!" 

"  Well,  do  tell  me !  "  exclaimed  Helen. 

"That  is  just  what  I  am  going  to  do,"  said 
Rosanna,  still  dancing.  "  Let's  go  around  in  the 
garden  and  sit  in  the  rose  arbor  where  no  one  will 
disturb  us." 

"  That  is  the  thing  to  do,"  agreed  Helen,  and 
together  they  went  skipping  through  the  iron  gate- 
way that  led  into  the  lovely  old  garden.  Once  upon 
a  time  that  gate  had  been  kept  locked  and  little 
Rosanna  had  been  almost  a  prisoner  among  the 
flowers  and  trees  that  made  the  garden  so  lovely. 
But  now  the  gate  swung  on  well-oiled  hinges  and 
all  the  little  Girl  Scouts  were  welcome  to  come 
and  play  with  Rosanna  in  her  playhouse  or  ride 
her  fat  little  pony  around  the  gravelled  paths. 

The  children  banged  the  gate  shut  behind  them 
and  went  to  the  most  sheltered  spot  in  the  garden, 
the  rose  arbor,  where  they  were  hidden  from 
view.  They  threw  their  school  books  on  the  rustic 
table  and  settled  themselves  in  two  big  chairs. 

" Now  do  go  on"  said  Helen  with  a  little  thrill 
in  her  voice.  "Oh,  I  do  feel  that  you  have  thought 
up  something  splendid !  " 


CHAPTER  III 

"  I  HAVE  been  thinking  and  thinking,"  said  Ros- 
anna,  "  and  not  an  idea  have  I  had  until  just  now. 
Here  is  what  I  just  thought  up. 

"You  know  Uncle  Bob  was  telling  me  about 
benefit  performances  that  actors  and  musicians 
have.  I  think  they  get  them  up  themselves  mostly, 
when  they  want  some  money,  but  I  was  talking  to 
Minnie  about  it  yesterday  when  she  came  in  for  a 
minute  and  she  says  in  her  church  they  have  bene- 
fits all  the  time.  People  sing  and  play  and  recite 
poetry,  and  it  is  lovely.  And  I  thought  up  some- 
thing better  still. 

"  What  i*  you  and  I,  Helen,  could  make  up  a 
sort  of  play  all  about  the  Girl  Scouts  and  give  it?  " 

"Write  it  out  of  our  heads?"  said  Helen,  quite 
aghast. 

"  Yes,"  said  Rosanna.  "  It  is  easy.  Before 
grandmother  used  to  let  me  have  little  girls  to 
play  with,  I  used  to  make  up  plays,  oh  lots  of 
times!" 

"  With  conversations?  "  pressed  Helen. 

"  Yes,  made  up  of  convex-salons  and  coming  on 
the  stage  and  going  off  a^ain,  and  people  dying, 
and  everything." 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

<l  Dear  me !  "  said  Helen  with  the  air  of  one  who 
never  suspected  such  a  thing  of  a  friend.  "Dear 
me!33  she  said  again.  "I  am  sure  I  could  never 
do  it.  You  will  have  to  do  it  yourself.  What 
is  it  going  to  be  about?  " 

"Why,  I  have  to  have  time  to  think,"  said 
Rosanna.  "  You  have  to  think  a  long  time  when 
you  are  going  to  be  an  author.  It  is  very  difficult." 

"  You  don't  suppose  you  are  all  out  of  practice, 
do  you?"  asked  Helen  anxiously.  "Why,  Ro- 
sanna, that  would  be  too  perfectly  splendid!  A 
real  play!  Where  could  we  give  it?  We  couldn't 
rent  a  real  theatre." 

"  Oh,  my,  no ! "  said  Rosanna,  beginning  to  be 
rather  frightened  at  the  picture  Helen  was  con- 
juring up.  "We  won't  have  that  sort  of  a  play. 
We  will  have  a  little  one  that  we  cai-  give  in  grand- 
mother's parlor,  or  over  at  Mrs.  Hargrave's." 

"  I  wouldn't,"  said  Helen  stoutly.  "  I  just  know 
you  can  write  a  beautiful  play,  Rosanna,  and  I 
think  we  ought  to  give  it  in  some  big  place  where 
a  lot  of  people  can  come,  and  we  will  have  tickets, 
and  chairs  all  in  rows  and  a  curtain  and  every- 
thing." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  believe  I  could  write  a  good  enough 
play  for  all  that,"  cried  Rosanna. 

"  Well,  just  do  the  best  you  can  and  I  know  it 
will  be  perfectly  lovely." 

"  I  tell  you  what,"  said  Rosanna,  beginning  to 
be  sorry  that  she  had  spoken.  "  Please  don't  tell 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Elise  or  anyone  about  it  until  I  see  what  I  can 
write,  and  then  after  you  and  I  have  read  it,  if  it 
is  good  enough,  we  will  show  it  to  Uncle  Robert 
and  see  what  he  says." 

"  It  will  be  good  enough/5  said  Helen  positively. 
"  Just  think  of  the  piece  of  poetry  you  wrote  to 
read  at  the  Girl  Scout  meeting.  It  was  so  lovely 
that  I  'most  cried.  All  that  part  about  the  new 
moon,  and  how  you  felt  when  you  died.  It  sounded 
so  true,  and  yet  I  don't  see  how  you  know  how  you 
are  going  to  feel  when  you  die.  I  can't  feel  it  at 
all.  I  suppose  that  is  because  you  are  a  poet. 
Mother  says  it  is  a  great  and  beautiful  thing  to 
be  a  poet,  but  that  you  must  look  out  for  your 
digestion." 

"  My  digestion  is  all  right  so  far,"  said  Rosanna, 
"  I  am  glad  to  know  that,  though,  because  if  your 
mother  says  so,  it  must  be  so." 

"  Of  course !  "  said  Helen  proudly.  "  When 
will  you  begin  your  play,  Rosanna?  " 

"  Right  away  after  dinner,"  said  Rosanna. 
"  That  is,  if  Uncle  Robert  goes  out.  If  he  stays 
at  home  I  will  have  to  play  cribbage  with  him. 
If  I  go  off  to  my  own  room,  he  comes  right  up. 
He  says  he  is  afraid  that  I  will  get  to  nursing  a 
secret  sorrow." 

"  What  is  a  secret  sorrow?  "  asked  Helen. 

"  I  don't  know  exactly,"  said  Rosanna.  "  Uncle 
Robert  looked  sort  of  funny  when  I  asked  him,  and 
perhaps  he  made  it  up  because  he  just  said,  '  Why 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

—  er,  why  —  er,  a  secret  sorrow  is  —  don't  you 
know  what  it  is,  Rosanna?  ' 

"  Sometimes  I  wonder  if  your  Uncle  Robert 
really  means  all  he  says,"  said  Helen  suspi- 
ciously. 

"  I  wonder  too,"  agreed  Rosanna,  nodding,  "  but 
he  is  a  perfect  dear,  anyway,  even  if  he  is  old.  He 
is  twenty-four,  and  grandmother  is  always  saying 
that  Robert  is  old  enough  to  know  better." 

"  I  know  he  will  be  all  sorts  of  help  about  our 
play,  anyway,"  said  Helen. 

"  I  know  he  will  too,"  said  Rosanna.  "  We  will 
show  him  the  play  the  minute  I  finish  it." 

Rosanna  went  right  to  work  on  her  play  when- 
ever she  had  any  time  to  spare. 

When  Saturday  morning  came  she  went  with 
Doctor  MacLaren  to  see  Gwenny,  and  after  she 
had  introduced  him  to  Gwenny's  mother  she  went 
and  sat  in  the  automobile  with  Mary  and  Luella 
and  Myron  and  Baby  Christopher  to  talk  to.  But 
she  scarcely  knew  what  she  was  saying  because  she 
was  so  busy  wondering  what  the  doctor  would  do 
to  poor  Gwenny,  whose  back  nearly  killed  her  if 
anyone  so  much  as  touched  it. 

The  doctor  stayed  a  long,  long  time,  and  when 
he  came  out  he  stood  and  talked  and  talked  with 
Gwenny's  mother.  He  smiled  his  kind,  grave  smile 
at  her  very  often,  but  when  he  turned  away  and 
came  down  the  little  walk  Rosanna  fancied  that  he 
looked  graver  than  usual. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

"  Is  she  very  bad? "  Eosanna  asked  when  the 
raachine  was  started. 

"Pretty  bad,  Rosanna  dear,"  said  the  doctor. 
"  She  will  need  a  very  serious  operation  that  can- 
not be  done  here.  She  will  have  to  go  to  a  hospital 
in  Cincinnati  where  there  is  a  wonderful  surgeon, 
Doctor  Branshaw,  who  specializes  in  troubles  of  the 
spine.  He  will  help  her  if  anyone  can.  She  is 
in  a  poor  condition  anyway,  and  we  will  have  to 
look  after  her  pretty  sharply  to  get  her  in  as  good 
a  shape  physically  as  we  can.  If  she  goes,  I  will 
take  her  myself,  and  will  have  her  given  the  best 
care  she  can  have.  What  a  dear,  patient,  sweet 
little  girl  she  is." 

"  Yes,  she  is ! "  agreed  Rosanna  absently. 
"Well,  if  she  is  as  sick  as  you  think,  I  dca't  see 
but  what  we  will  just  have  to  earn  the  money 
some  way  or  other ! "  Rosanna  was  very  silent 
all  the  way  home,  and  that  afternoon  she  retired 
to  the  rose  arbor  and  worked  as  hard  as  ever  she 
could  on  the  play.  It  was  really  taking  shape. 
Rosanna  would  not  show  the  paper  to  Helen  or  to 
Elise,  who  had  been  told  the  great  secret.  She 
wanted  to  finish  it  and  surprise  them. 

By  four  o'clock  she  was  so  tired  that  she  could 
write  no  longer.  She  put  her  tablet  away  and 
started  to  the  telephone  to  call  Helen.  As  she 
went  down  the  hall  the  door  bell  rang.  She  could 
see  a  familiar  figure  dancing  up  and  down  outside 
the  glass  door.  It  was  Elise,  apparently  in  a  great 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

state  of  excitement.  Rosanna  ran  and  opened  the 
door. 

Elise  danced  in.  She  caught  Rosanna  around 
the  waist  and  whirled  her  round  and  round. 

"  Behold  I  have  arrive,  I  have  arrive !  "  she  sang. 

"  Of  course  you  have  arrived !  "  said  Rosanna. 
"  What  makes  you  feel  like  this  about  it?  " 

"  Behold ! "  said  Elise  again  with  a  sweeping 
gesture  toward  the  front  door. 

Mrs.  Hargrave's  house-boy,  grinning  from  ear  to 
ear,  was  coming  slowly  up  the  steps  bearing  a  large 
covered  tray.  Elise  took  it  from  him  with  the 
greatest  care  and  set  it  carefully  on  a  table. 

"  Approach ! "  she  commanded,  and  Rosanna, 
really  curious,  drew  near  the  mysterious  article. 
Slowly  Elise  drew  off  the  cover.  Under  it  in  all 
the  glory  of  a  golden  brown  crust,  little  crinkles 
all  about  the  edge,  sat  a  pie  looking  not  only  good 
enough  to  eat,  but  almost  too  good. 

"  Peench  off  a  tiny,  tiny  bit  of  ze  frill,"  said  Elise, 
pointing  to  the  scallopy  edge.  "A  very  tiny 
peench,  and  you  will  see  how  good.  Now  I  can 
be  the  Girl  Scout  because  all  the  other  things  I 
can  so  well  do." 

Rosanna  took  a  careful  pinch  and  found  the  crust 
light  and  very  flaky  and  dry. 

"  Perfectly  delicious,  Elise !  "  she  pronounced  it. 
"  Did  you  do  it  all  yourself?  " 

"  Of  a  certainty !  "  said  Elise  proudly.  "  I  would 
not  do  the  which  otherwise  than  as  it  is  so  required 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

by  the  Girl  Scouts.  And  now  I  am  most  proud. 
If  you  will  so  kindly  take  me  when  you  go  to  the 
meeting  this  afternoon,  I  will  offer  this  to  the  most 
adorable  little  Captain  as  one  more  reason  the  why 
I  should  be  allowed  to  join." 

"  Of  course  I  will  take  you/'  said  Rosanna.  "  I 
was  just  going  to  telephone  for  Helen.  If  she  is 
ready  we  will  start  at  once." 

"  I  will  go  for  my  hat,"  said  Elise.  Then  anx- 
iously, "  Will  the  beautiful  pie  rest  here  in  safety?  " 

"  Yes,  indeed ;  it  will  be  perfectly  safe,"  laughed 
Rosanna. 

Elise  was  the  happiest  little  girl  in  all  the  room 
at  the  meeting.  Everyone  fell  in  love  with  her  at 
once,  her  manners  were  so  gentle  and  pretty  and  she 
was  so  full  of  life.  Her  curls  danced  and  her  eyes, 
and  her  red  lips  smiled,  and  it  seemed  as  though 
her  feet  wanted  to  dance  instead  of  going  in  a  hum- 
drum walk.  The  Scout  Captain  and  the  committee 
on  pie  decided  that  Elise  had  made  the  most  deli- 
cious of  its  kind. 

At  the  close  of  the  business  part  of  the  meeting, 
the  Captain  asked  as  usual  if  anyone  had  any  news 
of  interest  to  offer  or  any  requests  or  questions 
to  ask.  It  was  all  Rosanna  could  do  to  keep  from 
telling  them  all  about  Gwenny  and  asking  for  ad- 
vice and  help,  but  she  decided  to  keep  it  all  to  her- 
self until  she  had  finished  the  play.  Then  if  it 
turned  out  to  be  any  good  (and  it  would  be  easy 
to  tell  that  by  showing  it  to  Uncle  Bob )  she  would, 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

take  it  to  the  Captain,  and  if  she  approved,  Rosanna 
would  bring  the  whole  thing  up  before  the  next 
meeting. 

On  the  way  home,  Helen  said  to  Rosanna,  "  How 
are  you  getting  on  with  your  play,  Rosanna?  Did 
you  work  on  it  this  afternoon  as  you  expected  to?  " 

"  Yes,  I  did,  and  it  seems  to  be  coming  along 
beautifully/'  said  Rosanna.  "  I  wanted  to  ask  you 
about  it.  Don't  you  think  it  would  be  nice  to  put 
in  a  couple  of  songs  about  the  Girl  Scouts,  and 
perhaps  a  dance?" 

"  Simply  splendid !  "  said  Helen.  "  Oh,  Rosanna, 
do  hurry!  I  can  scarcely  wait  for  you  to  finish 
it.  Girl  Scout  songs  and  a  Girl  Scout  dance !  Do 
you  know  the  Webster  twins  can  dance  beautifully? 
Their  mother  used  to  be  a  dancer  on  the  stage  before 
she  married  their  father,  and  she  has  taught  them 
the  prettiest  dances.  They  do  them  together. 
They  are  awfully  poor,  and  I  don't  know  if  they 
could  afford  to  get  pretty  dancing  dresses  to  wear, 
but  I  should  think  we  could  manage  somehow." 

"  Oh,  we  will,"  said  Rosanna.  "  I  do  wish  we 
could  have  our  families  help  us !  " 

"  Think  how  surprised  they  will  be  if  we  do  this 
all  by  ourselves  except  what  Uncle  Bob  does,  and 
our  Scout  Captain." 

"  I  don't  see  that  Uncle  Bob  can  do  very  much," 
rejoined  Rosanna.  "  But  he  is  real  interested  and 
wants  to  help." 

"  We  ought  to  let  him  do^hatever  he  can,"  said 


THE  GIEL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Helen.  "  Father  often  tells  mother  that  he  hopes 
she  notices  how  much  she  depends  on  his  superior 
intellect,  but  she  just  laughs  and  says  '  Nonsense! 
Helen,  don't  listen  to  that  man  at  all ! '  But  we 
must  depend  on  our  own  superior  intellects 
now." 

"  It  won't  take  me  long  to  finish  the  play/'  said 
Kosanna.  "  It  is  only  going  to  be  a  one-act  play, 
and  if  it  isn't  long  enough  to  make  a  whole  enter- 
tainment, we  will  have  to  have  some  recitations 
and  songs  before  and  after  it." 

"  I  do  think  you  might  let  me  see  what  you  have 
written,"  coaxed  Helen. 

"  I  would  rather  not,"  pleaded  Rosanna. 
"  Somehow  I  feel  as  though  I  couldn't  finish  it  if 
I  should  show  it  to  anyone  before  it  is  done.  I 
will  show  it  to  you  the  very  first  one,  Helen.  Here 
is  one  thing  you  can  hear." 

She  took  a  crumpled  piece  of  paper  from  her 
pocket,  and  while  Helen  walked  very  close  beside 
her  commenced :  "  This  is  a  song  sung  by  two 
sisters  named  Elsie  and  Allis.  And  you  will  see 
what  it  is  all  about." 

"  Is  there  a  tune  for  it  too?  "  said  Helen  in  great 
wonder. 

"  No,  I  can't  make  up  music,"  said  Rosanna  re- 
gretfully, "  and,  anyhow,  I  think  it  would  come 
easier  to  use  a  tune  everybody  knows.  This  goes 
to  the  tune  of  Reuben,  Reuben,  I've  been  Thinking. 
You  know  that?  " 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Of  course,"  said  Helen.  "  Now  let's  hear  the 
poetry." 

Kosanna  had  written: 

"  Two  girls  come  on  the  stage,  one  from  the  right 
and  one  from  the  left.  One  is  dressed  in  beautiful 
clothes,  and  the  other  very  neat  and  clean,  but  in 
awfully  poor  things.  She  has  on  a  thin  shawl. 
She  is  Elsie.  The  rich  child  is  Allis.  Allis  sees 
Elsie,  and  sings : 

SONG 
Air,  Reuben,  "Reuben,  I've  Been  Thinking. 

Allis. 

Elsie,  Elsie,  I've  been  thinking 

What  a  pleasure  it  would  be, 
If  we  had  some  friends  or  sisters 

Just  to  play  with  you  and  me. 

All  our  time  we  spend  in  study 

There  is  no  place  nice  to  go. 
After  school  an  hour  of  practice 

Oh,  I  get  to  hate  it  so ! 

Chorus 

Just  an  hour  or  two  of  practice, 
One  and  two  and  three  and  four; 

Add,  subtract,  or  find  the  tangent; 
Everything  is  just  a  bore ! 

Elsie. 

Then,  dear  Allis,  when  we  finish, 
We  can  gro  and  take  a  walk; 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

That,  unless  the  day  is  rainy, 
Then  we  just  sit  down  and  talk. 

And  there's  not  a  thing  to  talk  of, 
Not  a  scheme  or  plan  to  make, 

Not  a  deed  of  gentle  loving, 

Nothing  done  for  Someone's  sake. 

Chorus 

Not  a  thing  for  us  to  aim  for  — 
Not  a  height  for  us  to  climb ! 

Just  the  stupid  task  of  living; 
Just  the  bore  of  passing  time! 

Enter  Girl  Scout  with  many  Merit  Badges  on  her  sleeve. 

Girl  Scout. 

Did  I  hear  you  wish  for  friendships'? 

Mates  to  join  in  work  and  play? 
Someone  true  and  good  and  loving 

You  would  chum  with  every  day? 

See  this  uniform  ?     It  tells  you 
You  can  wear  it;  be  a  Scout! 

See  the  sleeve  with  all  the  "  Merits  "? 
You  could  win  without  a  doubt. 

Chorus 

All— 

Oh,  what  fun  we'll  have  together! 

Oh,  what  work  and  jolly  play ! 
"Walks  and  talks  and  happy  study 

With  the  Girl  Scouts  every  day. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WHEN  Rosanna  finished,  Helen  gave  a  sigh  of 
delight. 

"  Rosanna,"  she  said,  "  it  is  perfectly  beautiful ; 
perfectly  beautiful!  Shall  you  have  the  Webster 
girls  sing  that?  " 

"  I  had  not  thought  of  them,"  confessed  Rosanna. 
"I  thought  it  would  be  nice  for  Elise  and  you, 
Helen.  You  both  sing  so  sweetly  and  you  can  both 
dance  too." 

"  I  shall  be  frightened  to  death,"  said  Helen, 
trying  to  imagine  herself  on  a  real  little  stage;  at 
least  on  a  make-believe  stage  with  a  curtain 
stretched  across  Mrs.  Horton's  or  Mrs.  Hargrave's 
parlor.  But  frightened  or  not,  she  was  more  than 
pleased  that  Rosanna  had  thought  of  her,  and  she 
had  no  intention  of  giving  up  the  part. 

She  and  Elise  commenced  to  practice  on  the  song, 
and  between  them  made  up  the  prettiest  little 
dance.  Mrs.  Culver  and  Mrs.  Hargrave  were  de- 
lighted to  play  their  accompaniments  and  suggest 
steps.  Of  course  they  had  to  be  told  something  of 
what  was  going  on,  but  they  were  very  nice  and 
asked  no  questions. 

A  week  later  Rosanna's  little  play  was  finished 


THE  GIEL  SCOUTS  EALLY 

and  ready  to  show  Uncle  Eobert.  Eosanna  was  as 
nervous  as  a  real  playwright  when  he  has  to  read 
his  lines  to  a  scowly,  faultfinding  manager.  She 
invited  Helen  over  to  spend  the  night  with  her  so 
she  could  attend  the  meeting. 

Her  grandmother  was  out  to  a  dinner-bridge 
party,  so  Eosanna  and  Helen  and  Uncle  Eobert 
went  up  to  Eosanna' s  sitting-room  and  prepared  to 
read  her  play.  And  if  the  truth  must  be  told, 
Uncle  Eobert  prepared  to  be  a  little  bored.  But 
as  Eosanna  read  on  and  on  in  her  pleasant  voice, 
stopping  once  in  awhile  to  explain  things,  Uncle 
Eobert's  expression  changed  from  a  look  of  patient 
listening  to  one  of  amusement  and  then  to  admira- 
tion. By  the  time  Eosanna  had  finished  he  was 
sitting  leaning  forward  in  his  chair  and  listening 
with  all  his  might.  He  clapped  his  hands. 

"  Well  done,  Eosanna !  "  he  said  heartily.  "  I 
am  certainly  proud  of  you!  Why,  if  you  can  do 
things  of  this  sort  at  your  age,  Eosanna,  we  will 
have  to  give  you  a  little  help  and  instruction  once 
in  awhile.  Well,  well,  that  is  a  play  as  is  a  play ! 
Don't  you  think  so,  Helen?  " 

"  It's  just  too  beautiful ! "  said  Helen  with  a 
sigh  of  rapture.  "  Just  too  beautiful !  Which  is 
my  part,  Eosanna?  " 

"  I  thought  you  could  be  the  little  girl  who  dis- 
covers the  lost  paper  so  the  other  little  Girl  Scout's 
brother  will  not  have  to  go  to  prison.  That  is,  if 
you  like  that  part." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

"It  is  the  nicest  part  of  all,"  sighed  Helen. 
wtWhat  part  are  you  going  to  take?  " 

"  I  didn't  think  I  would  take  any,"  said  Rosanna. 

"  Oh,  you  must  be  in  it !  "  cried  Helen. 

"  No,  Rosanna  is  right,"  declared  Uncle  Robert. 
"  It  is  her  play,  you  see,  and  she  will  have  to  be 
sitting  out  front  at  all  the  rehearsals  to  see  that  it 
is  being  done  as  she  wants  it." 

"  That  is  what  I  thought,"  said  Rosanna.  "  But 
you  are  going  to  help  with  everything,  are  you  not, 
Uncle  Robert?  " 

"  Surest  thing  in  the  world !  "  declared  Uncle 
Robert  heartily.  "  But  as  long  as  this  is  all  about 
the  Girl  Scouts,  won't  you  have  to  show  it  to  your 
Girl  Scout  Captain,  or  leader,  before  you  go  on 
with  it?'" 

"  Of  course,"  said  Rosanna. 

"  Who  is  she?  "  asked  Uncle  Robert  carelessly. 

"  Why,  you  saw  her,  Uncle  Robert,"  replied 
Rosanna.  "  Have  you  forgotten  the  dear  sweet 
little  lady  who  called  when  I  was  sick  when  we 
were  looking  for  someone  very  fierce  and  large?  " 

"  Sure  enough ! "  said  Uncle  Robert  after  some 
thought.  If  Rosanna  had  noticed  she  would  have 
seen  a  very  queer  look  in  his  eyes.  He  had  liked 
the  looks  of  that  young  lady  himself.  "  Well,  what 
are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  " 

ic  I  suppose  I  will  have  to  go  around  to  her  house, 
and  tell  her  all  about  it  and  read  it  to  her." 

"Is  it  written  so  I  can  read  it?"  said  Uncle 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Robert,  glancing  over  the  pages.  "Very  neat  in- 
deed. Now  I  will  do  something  for  you,  if  you 
want  me  to  save  you  the  bother.  Just  to  be  oblig- 
ing, I  will  take  your  play  and  will  go  around  and 
tell  Miss  Hooker  that  I  am  Rosanna's  uncle,  and 
read  it  to  her  myself." 

"  Why,  you  know  her  name !  "  said  Rosanna. 

"  Um  —  yes,"  said  Uncle  Robert.  "  I  must  have 
heard  it  somewhere.  For  goodness'  sake,  Rosanna, 
this  place  is  like  an  oven ! " 

"You  are  red,"  admitted  Rosanna.  "Well,  I 
wish  you  would  do  that,  please,  because  it  makes 
me  feel  so  queer  to  read  it  myself.  It  won't  take 
you  long  so  we  will  wait  up  for  you  to  tell  us  what 
she  thinks." 

"  I  wouldn't  wait  up,"  advised  Uncle  Robert, 
getting  up.  "  If  she  likes  me,  it  may  take  some 
time." 

"  Likes  you  ?  "  said  Rosanna. 

"  I  mean  likes  the  way  I  read  it,  and  likes  the 
play,  and  likes  the  idea,  and  likes  everything  about 
it,"  said  Uncle  Robert.  He  said  good-bye  and  hur- 
ried off,  bearing  the  precious  paper. 

The  girls  sat  and  planned  for  awhile,  when  the 
doorbell  rang.  Rosanna  could  hear  the  distant 
tinkle,  and  saying  "  Perhaps  he  is  back,"  ran  into 
the  hall  to  look  over  the  banisters. 

She  returned  with  a  surprised  look  on  her  face. 

"  What  do  you  suppose?  "  she  demanded  of  Helen 
who  sat  drawing  a  plan  of  a  stage.  "  It  is  Uncle 


THE  GIEL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

Robert,  and  Miss  Hooker  is  with  him.  Oh,  dear 
me,  I  feel  so  fussed ! " 

"  Come  down !  "  called  Uncle  Robert,  dashing  in 
the  door.  "  I  have  a  surprise  for  you  both." 

"  No,  you  haven't !  I  looked  over  the  banisters," 
said  Rosanna,  as  the  three  went  down  the  broad 
stairs. 

Miss  Hooker  thought  the  play  was  so  good  and 
she  was  so  proud  to  think  that  one  of  her  girls  had 
written  it  that  she  was  anxious  to  talk  it  over  at 
once,  and  had  asked  Uncle  Robert  to  bring  her  right 
around  to  see  Rosanna  and  Helen. 

They  all  drew  up  around  the  big  library  table, 
and  Uncle  Robert  sat  next  Miss  Hooker  where 
he  could  make  suggestions.  And  Miss  Hooker  and 
the  girls  made  a  list  of  characters,  and  fitted  them 
to  different  girls  in  their  group.  Finally  Miss 
Hooker  said  there  were  several  places  that  needed 
a  little  changing  and  would  Rosanna  trust  her  to 
do  it  with  Mr.  Horton's  help?  At  this  Uncle  Rob- 
ert looked  most  beseechingly  at  Rosanna,  who,  of 
course,  said  yes. 

"Where  will  we  give  it?"  asked  Helen.  "As 
long  as  it  is  a  benefit  we  want  a  place  large  enough 
for  lots  of  people  to  come.  All  our  families  will 
want  to  come,  and  all  the  Girl  Scouts'  families, 
and  perhaps  some  other  people  besides." 

"We  will  give  it  here,  won't  we,  Uncle  Robert? 
Grandmother  will  let  us,  I'm  sure.  In  the  big 
drawing-room,  you  know." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

"  Not  big  enough,"  declared  Uncle  Robert,  while 
both  girls  exclaimed.  "  Now  this  is  the  part  I  can 
help  about  and  I  have  just  had  a  great  idea.  You 
all  know  that  big  barn  of  Mrs.  Hargrave's?  We 
boys  used  to  play  there  on  rainy  days  when  we  were 
little.  The  whole  top  floor  is  one  immense  room. 
We  can  give  our  entertainment  there.  Mrs.  Har- 
grave  will  give  the  barn,  I  know.  And  for  my 
contribution  or  part  of  it,  I  wrill  see  that  you  have 
a  stage  and  a  curtain  and  all  that." 

"  How  dear  of  you,  Mr.  Horton ! "  said  Miss 
Hooker. 

"  Oh,  Uncle  Robert,  a  curtain  that  goes  up  and 
down?" 

"  Of  course,"  said  Uncle  Robert,  "  and  footlights 
and  everything." 

"  O-o-o-o-h !  "  sighed  both  girls,  and  Miss  Hooker 
looked  at  Uncle  Robert  and  smiled  and  he  seemed 
real  pleased. 

"  I  think  I  must  go  if  you  will  be  kind  enough 
to  take  me  home,"  said  Miss  Hooker.  "  Rosanna, 
you  must  tell  the  Girl  Scouts  about  Gwenny  at 
the  next  meeting,  and  read  your  play.  Then  we 
will  get  right  to  work,  for  the  sooner  this  is  staged, 
the  better.  We  don't  want  to  interfere  with  the 
Christmas  work." 

After  Mr.  Horton  had  taken  the  tiny  little  lady 
home,  the  girls  raced  upstairs  and  went  to  bed,  but 
it  was  a  long,  long  time  before  they  could  get  to 
sleep.  They  finally  went  off,  however,  and  did  not 


THE  GIEL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

tear  Uncle  Robert  when  he  came  home  whistling 
gaily.  They  dreamed,  however,  both  of  them,  of 
acting  before  vast  audiences  that  applauded  all 
their  speeches.  And  at  last  Rosanna  woke  up  with 
a  start  to  find  that  Helen  was  clapping  her  hands 
furiously  and  stamping  her  feet  against  the  foot- 
board. After  Rosanna  succeeded  in  awakening 
her,  they  had  a  good  laugh  before  they  went  to 
sleep  again. 

At  breakfast  Uncle  Robert  was  full  of  plans  for 
the  Benefit.  "  Miss  Hooker  and  I  went  all  over 
your  play  last  night,  Rosanna,"  he  said,  "  and 
smoothed  out  the  rough  places.  You  know  every 
manuscript  has  to  be  corrected.  It  is  on  the  table 
in  my  room.  You  had  better  read  it  over  after 
school,  and  if  it  suits  your  highness  I  will  have  it 
typewritten  for  you,  and  you  can  go  ahead.  I  am 
going  to  see  about  the  barn  now,  on  my  way  down 
town,  and  if  Mrs.  Hargrave  is  willing  —  and  I  am 
sure  she  will  be  —  I  will  get  a  carpenter  to  measure 
for  the  staging.  I  suppose,"  he  added,  "  I  ought  to 
ask  Miss  Hooker  to  look  at  the  place  and  get  some 
suggestions  from  her?  " 

"  Oh,  I  wouldn't  bother  to  wait  for  her,"  said 
Rosanna,  who  was  wild  to  see  the  stage  built. 
"  She  won't  care  what  you  do.  If  you  like,  I  will 
tell  her  how  busy  you  are  and  that  you  won't  bother 
to  come  around  to  her  house  any  more  because  you 
can  attend  to  things  just  as  well  yourself." 

Uncle  Robert  looked  hard  at  Rosanna.    It  was 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

a  queer  look;  sort  of  the  look  you  would  expect 
from  a  cannibal  uncle  who  has  a  little  niece  that 
he  wants  to  eat.  Rosanna,  catching  the  look,  was 
surprised  and  quite  disturbed.  But  when  Uncle 
Robert  spoke,  he  merely  said,  "  Thank  you,  Ro- 
sanna ;  but  you  see  I  do  need  Miss  Hooker's  advice 
very  much  indeed.  The  fact  is  I  will  never  be 
able  to  put  this  thing  through  as  well  as  I  want 
to  put  it  through  unless  I  can  consult  with  her 
every  day  or  so.  In  fact,  if  I  cannot  consult  as 
often  as  I  need  to,  I  will  certainly  have  to  give  it 
up.  And  that  would  be  awful,  wouldn't  it?  " 

"  Of  course  it  would,  Uncle  Robert/'  answered 
Rosanna.  "  I  just  hated  to  have  you  bothered." 

"  I  will  stagger  along  under  the  burden/'  said 
Uncle  Robert,  trying  to  look  like  a  martyr.  "  The 
thing  for  you  to  do  is  to  forget  how  hard  I  am 
working  and  how  much  help  I  have  to  have  doing 
this,  and  get  your  girls  to  studying  on  their  parts." 

"  Miss  Hooker  says  I  am  to  read  it  at  the  Scout 
meeting  next  week  and  then  we  will  give  out  the 
parts  and  let  them  be  learning  them." 

"All  right,  sweetness;  get  after  them,"  said 
Uncle  Robert,  kissing  Rosanna,  and  Helen,  too, 
"  for  luck  "  he  said,  and  going  off  whistling. 

"  I  think  the  play  is  making  Uncle  Robert  very 
happy,"  said  Rosanna  as  the  front  door  slammed 
and  she  heard  a  merry  whistle  outside.  "  He  is 
a  changed  person  these  last  few  days." 

"  That   is    what   often    happens/'    said    Helen. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Probably  he  did  not  have  anything  to  occupy  his 
mind  after  business  hours,  so  he  was  unhappy. 
Mother  says  it  is  a  serious  condition  to  allow  one- 
self to  be  in.  Now  that  he  has  our  play  to  think 
about,  he  feels  altogether  different.  I  do  myself. 
Do  you  know  it  is  time  to  start  for  school?  Let's 
be  off  so  we  won't  have  to  hurry,  and  we  will  have 
time  to  stop  for  Elise." 

Elise  was  ready  and  the  three  girls  sauntered 
down  the  street  together. 

As  they  passed  a  great  imposing  stone  house, 
Elise  said,  "  It  is  a  chateau  —  what  you  call  castle, 
isn't  it  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Rosanna,  "  and  a  cross  old  ogre  lives 
in  it.  He  and  his  sister  live  there  all  alone,  with 
lots  of  maids  and  men  to  serve  them,  and  he  is  so 
growly-wowly  that  Minnie  says  even  the  grocer 
boys  are  afraid  of  him.  That  is  his  car  in  front 
of  the  door.  Did  you  ever  see  anything  so  large?  " 

"  Or  so  lovely?  "  added  Elise.  "  If  he  was  not 
so  ze  what  you  just  call  growlee-wowlee,  he  might 
carry  us  to  school;  not?" 

"  There  he  comes,"  said  Rosanna.  "  Does  he  look 
as  though  he  would  carry  any  little  girls  am/where 
unless  he  carried  them  off  to  eat?  " 

The  great  carved  door  opened  and  an  old  gentle- 
man came  down  the  steps.  He  walked  with  a  cane 
and  to  the  children  he  seemed  very  old  indeed  with 
his  snow  white  hair  and  fierce  moustaches.  He 
scowled  as  he  came  and  stopped  to  switch  with  his 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

cane  at  a  vine  that  had  straggled  up  the  step.  He 
noticed  the  three  girls  approaching,  and  scowled 
at  them  so  fiercely  that  they  involuntarily  stopped 
to  let  him  pass.  But  he  was  in  no  hurry  to  do 
so.  When  he  had  looked  them  over  sufficiently,  he 
looked  past  them  and  snorted  loudly  at  something 
he  saw  up  the  street,  but  when  the  girls  looked 
around  to  see  what  was  the  matter,  there  was  only 
a  little  baby  girl  playing  with  a  little  woolly  dog; 
so  they  all  looked  back  again  at  the  old  gentleman. 
He  seemed  to  fascinate  them. 

Three  pair  of  round  eyes  fixed  on  him  caught 
the  old  gentleman's  attention. 

"Well,  well,  well!  "  he  said  testily.  "  What  do 
you  see?  Come,  come,  speak  out!" 

Elise  drew  back  but  the  other  two  stood  their 
ground,  and  Rosanna,  who  had  seen  him  all  her  life 
and  was  at  least  accustomed  to  him,  said  gently : 

"  We  see  you,  sir." 

"  Ha  hum !  "  sputtered  the  old  gentleman,  draw- 
ing his  fierce  white  eyebrows  together.  "What 
about  me,  young  woman,  what  about  me  to  stare 
at?" 

Rosanna  was  distressed.  There  seemed  nothing 
to  do  but  tell  him  the  truth  and  that  was  almost 
too  awful.  She  smoothed  it  down  as  well  as  she 
could. 

"  If  you  will  excuse  me  for  saying  so,  you  looked 
a  little  cross,"  she  said,  "  and  —  and  something 
must  be  making  you  very  unhappy." 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  It  is,"  said  the  ogre.  "  It  makes  me  unhappy 
to  see  what  a  silly  no-account  world  this  is;  full 
of  small  children,  and  woolly  dogs,  and  things. 
Kittens!  Babies!  Chickens!  Bah!  All  making 
noises!  All  getting  up  at  daybreak  to  play  and 
meow  and  crow.  Bah!  Of  course  I  am  un- 
happy ! " 

He  crossed  the  walk,  waved  the  footman  back 
with  his  cane,  stepped  painfully  into  the  car,  and 
with  his  own  hand  slammed  the  door  shut.  But 
his  anger  blinded  him.  He  did  not  take  his  hand 
away  soon  enough,  and  the  heavy  door  caught  it. 
With  a  cry  of  pain,  he  dropped  back  on  the  cush- 
ions. The  middle  finger  was  crushed  and  bleeding 
profusely. 

"  Heaven  protect  us !  "  cried  Elise. 

The  old  gentleman  was  almost  fainting.  Bo- 
sanna  did  not  hesitate.  The  Girl  Scouts  had  to 
understand  First  Aid.  She  ran  up  to  the  car  and 
entered  it,  tearing  up  her  handkerchief  as  she  did 
so.  Helen,  close  behind  her,  was  doing  the  same 
thing  with  hers. 


CHAPTER  V 

GENTLY  but  firmly  taking  the  bleeding  finger  in 
her  little  hand,  Rosanna  bound  it  up  in  the  strips 
of  linen,  folding  them  back  and  forth  in  quite  a 
professional  manner.  Helen  helped  her  to  tie  the 
bandages.  Not  until  they  had  finished  did  they 
take  time  to  glance  up  at  the  old  gentleman.  He 
was  deathly  white  and  leaned  heavily  against  the 
cushions. 

"  Now,  sir,"  said  Rosanna,  "  if  you  will  have 
your  man  drive  you  to  a  doctor,  he  will  treat  it 
with  an  antiseptic  and  it  will  soon  be  all  right." 

The  old  gentleman  commenced  to  brace  up  as 
he  saw  that  the  bleeding  at  least  was  checked.  The 
girls  got  out  of  the  car,  and  the  old  gentleman  with 
a  muttered,  "  Thank  you,  thank  you,"  gave  an  order 
and  the  chauffeur  drove  rapidly  away. 

"  He  said  thank  you  once  for  each  of  us  any- 
way," said  Helen. 

Elise  shuddered.  "  Your  dress !  "  she  said,  point- 
ing to  Rosanna.  Sure  enough,  Rosanna  was  spat- 
tered with  blood. 

"  Oh,  dear,  I  will  have  to  be  late,"  she  said. 
"  Just  look  at  jne !  I  will  have  to  go  back  and  put 
on  a  clean  dress."  She  turned  reluctantlv  and 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

ran  back  home,  while  the  others  went  on  to  school 
and  the  automobile  carried  the  old  gentleman  rap- 
idly to  the  office  of  his  doctor. 

While  the  physician  was  attending  to  the  hand, 
the  old  gentleman,  whose  name  was  Harriman, 
sat  and  sputtered: 

"  First  time  I  ever  saw  any  children  with  a  grain 
of  common  sense !  "  he  declared.  "  Little  girl  acted 
in  a  fairly  intelligent  manner.  Suppose  it  wouldn't 
happen  again.  Children  never  know  anything, 
especially  girls.  Bah !  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  they  do,  Mr.  Harriman,"  said  Doctor 
Greene  soothingly.  "  Oh,  yes,  they  do !  Now  I 
have  two  little  girls  of  my  own,  and  I  can  tell 
you  — » 

"  Don't ! "  said  Mr.  Harriman.  "  I  make  it  a 
point  never  to  listen  to  fond  parents.  I  am  sure 
the  two  girls  who  fixed  me  up  were  unusual  — 
very  unusi^l." 

"Yes,  they  were,"  said  the  doctor.  "You  will 
have  an  easier  time  with  this  hand  of  yours,  thanks 
to  their  skill." 

"  Queer ! "  said  Mr.  Harriman.  "  Seemed  to 
know  just  what  to  do." 

"  Must  have  been  Girl  Scouts,"  said  the  doctor 
musingly. 

"  Girl  Scouts?  What  foolishness  is  that?  "  said 
Mr.  Harriman. 

The  doctor  smiled.  He  thought  of  his  own  two 
daughters. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Ask  them  about  it,"  he  said,  rising,  and  would 
say  no  more. 

Mr.   Harriman  limped  out. 

"What  are  Girl  Scouts?"  Mr.  Harriman  asked 
his  chauffeur  as  they  drove  to  his  office. 

"  I  dunno,  sah,"  said  the  colored  man,  starting. 
He  always  jumped  when  Mr.  Harriman  spoke. 
Everyone  wanted  to. 

"  Idiot !  "  said  Mr.  Harriman. 

"  Yes,  sah,"  said  the  chauffeur  cheerfully. 

There  seemed  nothing  else  to  say. 

Mr.  Harriinan's  hand  healed  very  quickly  for  so 
old  a  man,  and  the  doctor  stubbornly  gave  all  the 
credit  to  Rosanna's  first-aid  treatment.  Mr.  Har- 
riman could  say  "  Stuff  and  nonsense ! "  as  many 
times  as  he  liked,  but  it  made  no  difference  to  the 
doctor,  who  smiled  and  refused  to  discuss  the  mat- 
ter. Mr.  Harriman  commenced  to  have  a  trouble- 
some conscience.  He  felt  as  though  he  should  call 
and  thank  the  little  girl  who  had  befriended  him 
to  such  good  purpose,  especially  as  he  had  known 
Rosanna's  grandmother  all  her  life,  but  he  could 
not  bring  himself  to  do  it  and  contented  himself 
with  sending  two  immense  wax  dolls  and  a  huge 
box  of  candy  to  Rosanna's  house  addressed  to  "  The 
two  girls  who  recently  bound  up  my  hand."  Ro- 
sanna  and  Helen  were  quite  embarrassed,  but  Mrs. 
Horton,  who  was  immensely  amused,  told  them  that 
all  that  was  necessary  was  a  note  of  thanks,  which 
they  wrote  and  sent  off  in  a  great  hurry.  Thev 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

didn't  want  to  keep  Mr.  Harriman  waiting.  No 
one  did.  But  he  couldn't  find  out  anything  about 
the  Girl  Scouts  because  the  only  persons  he  asked 
were  the  very  persons  who  would  never  know  any- 
thing much  about  anything  that  had  to  do  with 
girls  or  good  times  or  youth  or  happiness.  He 
asked  his  old  friends  at  the  club,  when  he  felt  like 
talking  at  all,  and  so  the  time  went  on. 

In  the  meantime,  at  a  Scout  meeting  Rosanna 
found  herself  telling  the  girls  all  about  Gwenny 
and  the  play  and  the  plans  for  sending  the  poor 
little  cripple  to  Cincinnati  for  the  operation  which 
might  make  her  well.  It  was  only  might.  Doctor 
MacLaren  and  the  other  doctors  whom  he  had  taken 
to  see  Gwenny  would  only  say  that  it  could  be  tried. 
And  the  great  surgeon,  Dr.  Branshaw,  had  written 
Dr.  MacLaren  that  as  soon  as  the  child  was  in  a  fit 
condition  she  could  be  brought  to  him  and  he  would 
do  what  he  could.  He  said  nothing  about  the  cost, 
Rosanna  noticed,  when  she  read  his  letter,  so  she 
could  not  tell  the  girls  what  the  operation  would 
cost.  They  were  all  as  interested  as  they  could 
be  and  promised  to  work  as  hard  as  they  could 
selling  tickets,  and  the  ones  who  were  chosen  to 
take  parts  in  the  play  were  very  happy  about  it. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  of  them  were  to  come  on 
the  stage,  for  those  who  had  no  speaking  parts  came 
on  and  marched  and  so  had  a  share  in  the  glory. 

And  the  way  they  learned  their  parts !  They  al- 
most mastered  them  over  m'^ht.  Rehearsals  went 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

on,  and  the  day  was  set  for  the  entertainment. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  hammering  up  in  Mrs. 
Hargrave's  barn.  Mrs.  Hargrave  and  Miss  Hooker 
and  Uncle  Robert  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  up 
there,  but  they  would  not  let  anyone  else  in.  Even 
Elise  was  barred  out,  and  although  she  wrung  her 
little  hands  and  talked  a  funny  mixture  of  French 
and  English  in  her  pretty  coaxing  way,  not  one  of 
the  three  would  relent  and  let  her  peek  in.  "  Wait 
until  it  comes  time  for  the  dress  rehearsals,"  was 
all  they  would  say. 

A  week  before  the  play,  a  big  box  came  for  Uncle 
Robert.  He  opened  it  in  Rosanna's  room.  It  was 
full  of  tickets  nicely  printed  on  yellow  pasteboard. 
Rosanna  read  them  with  rapture:  the  name  of  the 
play,  lier  play,  and  at  the  top  in  large  print, 

BENEFIT  PERFORMANCE 

"You  have  not  said  anything  about  what  the 
performance  is  to  be  a  benefit  for"  said  Rosanna. 

"  That's  all  right,"  said  her  uncle. 

"  And  you  have  forgotten  to  say  the  price  of  the 
tickets,"  wailed  Helen,  who  was  again  spending 
the  night. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Horton,  "  when  I  went  to  order 
those  tickets  for  you,  I  had  an  idea.  And  it  was 
this.  I  thought  as  long  as  this  was  a  benefit  per- 
formance, why  not  let  it  benefit  everybody  present?  " 

"  How  can  it  do  that?  "  asked  Rosanna. 

"  In  this  way,"  said  Uncle  Robert.     "  There  will 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

be  all  sorts  of  people  there,  because  some  of  the 
Girl  Scouts,  Miss  Hooker  says,  are  very  poor  in- 
deed, and  some  of  them  belong  to  families  who 
have  plenty  of  money.  So  Miss  Hooker  suggested 
a  very  good  scheme.  Tell  the  girls  when  they  sell 
tickets  to  say  that  as  it  is  a  benefit  and  so  forth 
and  so  forth,  that  the  tickets  are  simply  to  let  the 
people  into  the  hall.  As  they  go  out  they  are  to 
pay  whatever  they  think  it  is  worth,  from  five  cents 
up." 

"  Perfectly  splendid !  "  said  Helen,  catching  the 
idea  at  once. 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Eosanna.  "  They  will 
have  seen  the  performance  and  suppose  everybody 
will  feel  as  though  it  is  worth  only  a  nickel?  " 

"  Oh,  they  won't  feel  like  that  at  all,  Rosanna," 
said  Helen.  "  I  think  every  single  person  will 
think  it  is  worth  a  quarter.  Think  if  they  would 
all  pay  twenty-five  cents !  " 

"  I  know  several  who  expect  to  pay  a  dollar," 
said  Uncle  Robert. 

"  If  they  only  will,"  cried  Rosanna,  almost  sob- 
bing, "  Gwenny  can  go  to  Cincinnati  this  very 
winter!  I  think  it  is  a  good  idea,  Uncle  Robert. 
After  all,  it  is  a  good  thing  that  you  did  consult 
with  Miss  Hooker,  even  if  it  has  taken  a  lot  of  your 
time.  I  think  you  have  been  so  kind." 

"  Oh,  I  haven't  minded,"  said  Uncle  Robert  in  a 
generous  way. 

"Why,  you  must  have  minded,"  went  oia  Ro- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  EALLY 

sanna.  "  I  have  kept  track  all  I  could,  because  I 
was  so  much  obliged  to  you,  and  you  have  been 
over  there  at  Miss  Hooker's  house  consulting  — 
well,  you  had  to  go  over  five  nights  last  week,  and 
Miss  Hooker  is  always  saying,  '  I  had  a  telephone 
today  from  your  uncle.'  You  must  be  tired  to 
death.  I  nearly  told  Miss  Hooker  so,  but  I  thought 
it  might  sound  rude." 

"  Ycu  are  right  about  that,  Rosanna;  it  would 
have  been  very  rude  indeed,  excessively  rude  I  may 
say,"  said  Mr.  Horton  with  some  haste.  "  I  can 
scarcely  think  of  anything  worse  for  you  to  say. 
My  sainted  Maria !  " 

"  I  didn't  say  it,"  Rosanna  assured  him,  "  and  the 
thing  is  so  nearly  over  now,  only  a  week  more,  that 
it  really  doesn't  matter." 

"Not  a  particle!"  said  Mr.  Horton.  "  But  I 
wish  you  would  promise  me  that  you  won't  say  any- 
thing of  the  sort.  Not  that  it  matters,  but  I  seem 
to  feel  nervous." 

"Of  course  I  will  promise,"  agreed  Rosanna. 
"  I  love  Miss  Hooker  but  of  course  I  love  you  more, 
and  I  just  do  hate  to  have  you  bothered." 

"  It  is  mighty  nice  of  you,  sweetness,  but  you 
must  not  worry  about  me  at  all.  Now  to  change 
the  conversation,  as  the  man  said  when  he  had 
nearly  been  hanged  by  mistake,  you  give  these 
tickets  out  to  your  Girl  Scouts  and  tell  them  to 
orrer  tnem  to  the  people  who  would  be  most  likely  ^ 
co  give  more  than  a  nickel.  It  ought  to  be  easy. 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

They  are  to  say  that  the  benefit  will  cost  them  five 
cents  or  up  as  they  leave  the  hall.  With  your 
permission,  I  will  make  a  few  remarks  and  tell 
them  about  Gwenny.  But  we  will  not  mention 
her  by  name,  because  if  there  should  be  a  newspaper 
reporter  lurking  around  he  would  put  it  in  the 
papers  and  that  would  be  very  embarrassing." 

After  Uncle  Robert  had  gone  out  the  girls  made 
the  tickets  up  in  little  bundles,  one  for  each  girl 
in  the  group.  Their  own  they  spread  out  on  the 
table,  planning  how  they  would  dispose  of  them. 

"  Whom  shall  you  sell  to  first?  "  asked  Helen. 

"  Mr.  Harriman,"  said  Rosanna  quietly. 

Helen  dropped  her  tickets.  "Dear  me,  Ro- 
sanna !  "  she  cried.  "  I  would  be  too  afraid  to  offer 
him  a  ticket." 

"  I  am  not,"  said  Rosanna.  "  I  would  do  more 
than  that  for  Gwenny,  and  I  am  not  afraid  of  him 
at  all.  Not  even  if  he  roars.  And  he  has  lots  and 
lots  of  money.  I  shouldn't  wonder  at  all  that  he 
will  be  one  of  the  dollar  ones  if  he  comes.  And  he 
has  got  to  come  if  I  go  after  him." 

"  Dear  me! "  said  Helen  again,  quite  awed. 
"You  are  brave.  Shall  I  come  writh  you?" 

"  If  you  like,"  replied  Rosanna.  "  We  will  go 
right  after  school  tomorrow." 

The  interview  with  Mr.  Harriman  took  place  as 
planned  the  first  thing  after  school.  School  let 
out  at  two  o'clock,  and  it  was  half-past  when  the 
girls  mounted  the  steps  of  the  grim  old  fortress  in 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

which  Mr.  Harriman  lived.  Now  it  happened  that 
half  past  two  was  a  very  dark  hour  for  Mr.  Harri- 
man because  at  about  that  time  he  was  always  in 
the  clutch  of  a  bad  attack  of  indigestion  brought 
on  daily  because  he  would  not  mind  his  doctor  and 
omit  pickles  and  sweets  from  his  bill  of  fare.  At 
this  time  he  read  the  morning  paper  and  reviled 
the  world  at  large.  His  sister  always  left  him 
with  the  excuse  that  she  wanted  to  lie  down,  and  he 
was  alone  with  his  abused  stomach  and  his  pepsin 
tablets  and  his  thoughts. 

The  two  girls  entered  the  room  and  waited  for 
him  to  speak. 

Mr.  Harriman  looked  up  from  his  reading  with 
a  dark  scowl.  Most  of  the  newspaper  was  on  the 
floor  where  he  had  thrown  it  to  stamp  on.  He 
always  felt  better  when  he  stamped  on  the  editorials 
that  displeased  him  most.  It  seemed  to  soothe  his 
feelings.  H^  managed  to  grunt,  "  'Dafternoon ! 
'Dafternoon !  "  when  he  saw  the  two  girls  advance 
across  his  library,  and  then  he  waited,  looking  over 
the  tops  of  a  very  grubby  pair  of  glasses  for  them 
to  state  their  errands.  It  was  Rosanna  who  spoke 
first,  although  generally  Helen  was  the  spokesman. 
But  Helen  was  frankly  afraid  of  the  grouchy  old 
gentleman,  while  Rosanna  was  too  anxious  to  help 
Gwenny  to  be  afraid  of  anyone.  So  she  said, 
"Please  excuse  us,  Mr.  Harriman,  if  we  have  in- 
terrupted your  reading." 

"  Well,  you  have ! "  said  Mr.  Harriman  gruffly. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

"  Wliadder  you  want?  Sell  me  chances  on  a  dolPs 
carriage  or  sofy  pillow?  Who's  getting  up  your 
fair?  Meth'dist,  Tiscopal?  Here's  a  dime." 

He  held  out  the  money,  which  Eosanna  took 
gently  and  laid  on  the  table  beside  him. 

"Thank  you,"  she  said.  "We  don't  want  any 
money  today.  WTe  have  come  to  tell  you  about  an 
entertainment  we  are  going  to  give.  First  if  you 
don't  mind  I  think  I  will  just  shine  up  your  glasses. 
You  can't  see  to  think  through  them  the  way  they 
are,"  and  as  Helen  looked  on,  expecting  to  see  Ro- 
sanna  snapped  in  two  any  second,  she  held  out  her 
hand  for  the  glasses,  shaking  out  a  clean  pocket 
handkerchief  as  she  did  so.  No  one  was  more  sur- 
prised than  Mr.  Harriman  himself  when  he  took 
off  the  smeary  spectacles  and  handed  them  to  Ro- 
sanna,  who  silently  polished  them  and  handed  them 
back.  They  were  better;  Mr.  Harriman  acknowl- 
edged it  with  a  grunt. 

"  Girls  are  real  handy,"  said  Rosanna  with  her 
sweet  smile. 

"  Grrrrrr !  "  from  Mr.  Harriman.  "  Whadded 
you  want  to  tell  me? "  but  his  voice  certainly 
seemed  a  shade  less  gruff. 

Rosanna,  speaking  distinctly  and  as  carefully  as 
though  she  was  explaining  to  a  small  child,  told  the 
old  man  about  Gwenny  and  the  benefit  and  after 
that,  as  he  sat  perfectly  still  looking  at  her  through 
unnaturally  shiny  glasses,  she  went  on  to  tell  him 
about  the  Girl  Scouts.  You  couldn't  tell  whether 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

lie  cared  a  snap  about  it,  but  at  all  events  he  list- 
ened, and  Helen  and  Rosanna  both  thought  it  was 
a  good  sign.  They  did  not  dare  to  glance  at  each 
other,  but  Rosanna  went  on  talking  until  she  felt 
that  she  had  told  him  all  that  he  would  want  to 
know  if  he  had  been  a  regular  sort  of  a  human 
being  instead  of  a  grouchy,  cross  old  man  who 
seemed  to  delight  in  scaring  everyone  away  from 
him. 

"  That's  all,"  said  Rosanna  finally,  smiling  up 
into  the  scowling  old  face. 

There  was  a  long  silence. 

"  Grrrrrr !  "  said  Mr.  Harrinian  again.  "  So  you 
want  me  to  come  to  your  show,  do  you?  Haven't 
been  to  a  show  for  forty  years !  No  good !  Silly !  " 

"  Ours  isn't,"  declared  Helen,  suddenly  finding 
her  voice.  "  Our  entertainment  is  perfectly  splen- 
did!" 

"  Perfectly  splendid !  "  mimicked  Mr.  Harriman. 
"  Sounds  just  like  a  woman !  All  alike,  regardless 
of  age.  Grrrrrr !  " 

"You  will  come,  won't  you?"  asked  Rosanna. 
"  Please  do !  You  see  it  is  only  a  nickel  if  you  do 
not  think  it  is  worth  more." 

"  A  great  many  persons  are  going  to  pay  a  quar- 
ter," hinted  Helen. 

"  All  right,  all  right ! "  said  Mr.  Harriman. 
"  You  are  less  objectionable  than  most  children. 
I  will  come  if  I  can  remember  it." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Suppose  I  come  after  you?  "  suggested  Rosanna, 
reniemberiDg  what  she  had  said  to  Helen  about 
getting  Mr.  Harriman  if  she  had  to  come  after  him. 

"  All  right,  all  right !  Let  it  go  at  that !  I  know 
your  sex!  You  will  forget  all  about  your  agree- 
ment by  the  time  you  reach  the  next  corner.  If 
you  come  after  me,  I  will  go  to  your  show.  In 
the  Hargrave  barn,  eh?  Anything  to  sit  on,  or 
shall  I  bring  a  chair?  " 

"  No,  sir ;  Uncle  Robert  has  fixed  seats  and  every- 
thing. And  I  will  come  for  you  quite  early  be- 
cause I  have  to  be  there  doing  my  part.'1 

"  That's  nuff !  "  grunted  Mr.  Harriman,  nodding 
curtly.  "  'Dafternoon !  "  He  resumed  his  paper, 
and  as  he  caught  the  opening  sentences  of  the  ar- 
ticle before  him,  there  came  a  sound  like  the  grat- 
ing of  teeth  and  the  noise  of  a  large  boiler  that 
is  about  to  explode. 

The  girls  said,  "  Good  afternoon !  "  in  two  small 
voices  and  went  out  as  quickly  as  they  could. 

Helen  breathed  a  sigh  of  relief  when  she  reached 
the  outer  air. 

"  Rosanna,  you  are  certainly  a  very  brave  girl," 
she  said.  "  I  am  glad  to  get  out  alive.  Every 
minute  I  expected  to  hear  him  say,  '  Fee-fi-fo-fum, 
I  smell  the  breath  of  an  English-mun ! '  " 

Rosanna  laughed. 

"  He  is  pretty  awful/'  she  granted.  "  But  I 
mean  to  make  him  come.  I  think  it  will  do  him 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

good  to  see  that  play,  and  I  shall  certainly  go  after 
him.  If  he  thinks  I  am  going  to  forget  about  him, 
he  is  greatly  mistaken." 

"  Let's  try  to  get  rid  of  all  our  tickets  this  after- 
noon. You  know  we  are  to  meet  Uncle  Robert  at 
the  barn  at  five  o'clock  to  see  the  theatre  he  has 
fixed  up.  Oh,  Helen,  I  am  so  excited!  " 

For  a  couple  of  hours  the  girls  repeated  the  story 
of  Gwenny  and  the  benefit  until  they  could  say 
it  by  heart.  The  tickets  went  so  fast  that  they 
were  sorry  that  they  did  not  have  twice  as  many. 
At  a  quarter  of  five  they  hurried  back  to  Mrs.  Har- 
grave's,  where  Elise  was  waiting  for  them  and 
Uncle  Robert  soon  joined  them.  There  was  a  short 
wait  then,  because  he  refused  to  unlock  the  door 
before  Miss  Hooker  arrived  although  the  girls 
begged  and  begged,  assuring  him  that  she  wouldn't 
mind. 

Finally  they  heard  the  tap,  tap,  tap  of  her  tiny 
shoes  on  the  old  brick  walk,  and  round  the  corner 
she  came,  looking  more  dimply  and  dainty  and  alto- 
gether beautiful  than  ever.  Uncle  Robert  looked 
as  though  he  could  eat  her,  but  somehow  it  was 
not  the  sort  of  look  he  had  given  Rosanna  that  other 
time.  Not  at  all!  Rosanna  noticed  it. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  stairs  were  broad  and  easy,  and  the  girls 
ran  up  after  Uncle  Robert  who  proceeded  to  fit 
a  large  key  in  the  lock  of  the  big  door  at  the  head 
of  the  stairs.  It  was  a  very  fine  stable,  built  many, 
many  years  ago,  and  finished  outside  and  inside 
with  great  care.  The  walls  were  all  sealed  or  fin- 
ished with  narrow  strips  of  varnished  wood.  As 
the  door  swung  open,  the  three  girls  stood  dumb 
with  amazement.  Then  "  Oh,  darling  Uncle  Rob- 
ert ! "  cried  Rosanna,  and  threw  herself  into  his 
arms. 

Uncle  Robert  looked  over  her  head  at  Miss 
Hooker  and  smiled. 

"  Glad  if  you  like  it,  kiddie,"  he  said.  "  It  is 
my  contribution  to  little  Gwenny.  And  Doctor 
Rick  told  me  to  tell  you  that  he  would  send  some 
music  for  his  share." 

"Oh,  Helen,  Helen,  isn't  that  splendid?"  cried 
Rosanna.  "  Now  we  won't  have  to  have  a  Victrola ! 
It  will  be  like  a  real  theatre." 

"  Just  exactly,"  said  Helen  absently.  She  could 
not  give  very  much  thought  to  the  orchestra  when 
the  little  theatre  claimed  her  attention. 

There  was  a  real  stage,  and  before  it  a  long  green 
tin  that  the  girls  knew  concealed  the  footlights. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

A  splendid  curtain  hung  before  them,  painted  in  a 
splashy  way  with  a  landscape.  To  the  girls  it 
seemed  a  rare  work  of  art.  Well,  the  sign  painter 
who  had  done  it  was  rather  proud  of  himself,  so 
it  must  have  been  all  right. 

They  walked  down  the  aisle  between  rows  of 
nice  new  benches,  made  with  comfortable  backs. 
Mr.  Horton  left  them  and  went  around  back  of  the 
stage.  Immediately  there  was  a  sound  of  ropes 
squeaking,  and  the  curtain  rose  as  majestically  as 
though  it  was  the  curtain  of  a  real  theatre.  And 
there  was  the  stage!  The  same  accommodating 
sign  painter  had  painted  a  back  drop  and  "  flies  " 
as  they  are  called.  It  was  a  woodland  scene. 
Trees  were  the  thing  that  accommodating  sign 
painter  could  do  best,  and  he  had  made  lots  of  them, 
as  green  as  green!  He  had  also  painted  two  can- 
vas covered  boxes  so  that  you  could  scarcely  tell 
them  from  real  rocks. 

"  Isn't  that  pretty  nifty  looking  scenery?  "  asked 
Uncle  Robert  proudly.  "  It  only  goes  to  show  that 
there  is  a  lot  of  kindness  floating  around  loose  in 
this  work-a-day  old  world.  The  man  who  painted 
all  this  knew  Gwenny's  mother  when  she  was  a  girl, 
and  when  I  asked  for  his  bill  he  said  he  had  done 
it  all  Sundays  and  nights  and  it  was  his  contribu- 
tion. He  wouldn't  take  a  cent.  Doing  it  nights  is 
why  some  of  the  trees  look  sort  of  bluish  but  I 
don't  think  it  hurts,  do  you?  " 

"  What    a    nice,    nice   man ! ''    exclaimed    Miss 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Hooker.  "  I  should  say  it  doesn't  hurt!  To  think 
of  his  working  nights  after  painting  all  day  long. 
I  should  admire  those  trees  if  they  were  a  bright 
purple! " 

"  Of  course  you  would/'  said  Uncle  Robert  softly. 
"  You  are  like  that." 

Rosanna  was  hurt.  "  Why,  Uncle  Robert !  She 
doesn't  mean  that  she  would  just  as  soon  like  a 
purple  tree  as  a  green  one.  She  means  how  nice 
it  was  of  the  man." 

"  Thank  you,  Rosanna ;  it  is  all  perfectly  clear  to 
me  now,"  smiled  Uncle  Robert.  "Perfectly  clear." 
He  looked  again  at  Miss  Hooker  and  she  smothered 
a  little  smile  behind  her  little  handkerchief. 

They  hated  to  go  out  of  the  theatre  and  see  Uncle 
Robert  lock  the  door.  Then  they  separated.  Elise 
danced  off  to  the  house.  Miss  Hooker  and  Helen 
went  down  the  street  together,  and  Uncle  Robert 
and  Rosanna  cut  across  the  garden.  Rosanna's 
heart  was  full.  She  wanted  everybody  to  be  happy. 

"  Uncle  Robert,"  she  said,  "  sometimes  I  wish 
that  you  were  going  to  get  married  after  awhile. 
If  you  were  only  going  to  marry  Miss  Hooker  or 
some  young  lady  just  like  her,  so  little  and  sweet!  " 

"  Well,  it  is  worth  considering,"  said  Uncle  Rob- 
ert. "  I  wonder  now,  just  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, that  is,  if  I  should  do  it  to  accommodate  you, 
I  wonder  if  Miss  Hooker  would  marry  me." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Rosanna.  "  She  wouldn't  think 
of  it." 


THE  GIEL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

"Ugh!"  said  Uncle  Robert.  It  sounded  as 
though  someone  had  knocked  all  the  air  out  of  him. 

"  No,"  continued  Rosanna.  "  We  were  talking 
about  Minnie  getting  married  one  day,  and  I  said 
it  was  the  only  wedding  I  was  ever  apt  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  because  I  had  heard  you  say 
many  times  that  you  were  not  a  marrying  man." 

"  What  did  she  say?  "  asked  Uncle  Robert  in  a 
sort  of  strangled  voice  which  Rosanna,  skipping 
along  at  his  side,  failed  to  notice. 

"  Oh,  she  said,  (  How  interesting ! '  and  I  said, 
6  Isn't  it?  Because  he  is  nicer  than  anyone  I  know, 
but  he  says  that  girls  never  cut  any  figure  in  his 
young  life  except  to  play  with.'  " 

"What  did  she  say  then?"  demanded  Mr.  Hor- 
ton. 

"  Nothing  at  all,"  answered  Rosanna,  "  but  she 
is  sensible  too,  because  the  next  time  I  was  there, 
she  asked  more  about  Minnie,  and  then  she  said  she 
had  decided  never  to  marry.  She  said  she  liked  to 
be  polite  to  men  and  help  them  pass  the  time,  and 
to  assist  them  in  worthy  works,  but  further  than 
that  she  despised  the  whole  lot  of  them,  especially 
blonds."  Rosanna  looked  up  to  see  what  color  hair 
Uncle  Robert  had,  and  noticed  a  very  queer  look 
on  his  face. 

"  You  look  so  queer,  Uncle  Robert,"  she  said 
tenderly.  "Don't  you  feel  well?" 

"  No,  I  don't,"  said  Uncle  Robert.  "  I  think  if 
you  will  excuse  me  I  will  take  a  walk." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"How  do  you  feel? "  persisted  Rosanna. 

"  I  feel  —  I  feel  queer"  said  Uncle  Robert.  "  I 
feel  sort  of  as  though  I  had  been  gassed." 

He  turned  abruptly  and  went  down  the  walk, 
leaving  Rosanna  staring  after  him.  At  dinner, 
however,  Uncle  Robert  declared  that  he  was  all 
right,  so  Rosanna  stopped  worrying. 

Everything  went  rushing  along.  And  everything 
went  beautifully,  thanks  to  the  energy  everybody 
put  into  their  work.  A  couple  of  days  before  the 
day  of  the  entertainment  Uncle  Robert  appeared 
with  a  copy  of  the  programs  that  he  had  had 
printed.  All  the  Girl  Scouts,  when  Rosanna 
brought  it  to  the  rehearsal,  read  it  until  the  paper 
was  quite  worn  out.  At  the  bottom  of  the  page, 
after  the  program  part,  was  printed  plainly,  Given 
~by  the  Oirl  Scouts  of  Group  II.  Whoever  saw  the 
program  at  all  could  not  fail  to  see  that  they  were 
all  in  it,  one  as  much  as  another. 

At  last  the  great  day  came!  It  was  Saturday, 
of  course.  No  other  day  would  be  possible  for  busy 
school  girls.  Directly  after  supper,  the  Scouts 
commenced  to  file  into  the  theatre  by  ones  and 
twos  and  threes.  They  gathered  in  the  dressing- 
rooms  back  of  the  stage,  where  they  sat  or  stood 
in  solemn  groups.  Helen  and  Elise  had  arrived, 
and  as  Rosanna  started  across  the  garden  she  hap< 
pened  to  think  of  Mr.  Harriman.  She  could  not 
suppress  a  groan  of  dismay  as  she  remembered  her 
promise  to  go  after  him.  There  was  no  time  to  get 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Helen  or  Elise  to  go.  She  looked  wildly  up  and 
down  for  some  other  Girl  Scout,  but  there  was  not 
one  in  sight.  If  she  did  not  go,  Mr.  Harriman 
would  indeed  think  that  all  women  were  alike.  So 
she  flitted  down  the  street  looking  like  a  good  fairy 
in  her  shimmering  blue  dress,  with  the  tiny  wreath 
of  forget-me-nots  banding  her  dark  hair.  She  had 
not  taken  time  to  put  on  her  blue  evening  coat,  with 
its  broad  bands  of  white  fox  fur,  but  held  it  round 
her  shoulders  with  both  hands  as  she  ran. 

Mr.  Harriman  was  at  home,  the  footman  said,  but 
he  was  engaged ;  had  company  for  dinner,  and  they 
liad  not  quite  finished.  Would  she  wait? 

Rosanna  said  she  was  sorry  but  she  would  have 
to  go  right  in  and  speak  to  Mr.  Harriman.  So 
she  passed  the  pompous  servant  and  at  the  dining- 
room  door  a  still  more  pompous  butler,  and  stepped 
into  the  presence  of  Mr.  Harriman  and  his  guests. 

Miss  Harriman,  a  thin,  scared  little  old  lady,  sat 
at  the  head  of  the  table.  Opposite  her,  busy  with 
a  large  dish  of  plum  pudding,  sat  Mr.  Harriman. 
His  two  guests  sat  on  either  side  of  him.  They 
were  old  too,  so  three  white-haired  old  gentlemen 
turned  and  looked  at  Rosanna  as  she  entered  and 
dropped  a  curtsey. 

"  'Devening !  There  you  are  again !  Grrrrrr ! 
Didn't  forget,  did  you?  Bah!  Want  I  should  go 
to  show?  "  said  Mr.  Harriman,  partly  to  Rosanna 
and  partly  to  the  others. 

"  Yes,  sir ;  this  is  the  night,"  said  Rosanna. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  What's  this?  "  asked  one  of  the  gentlemen,  who 
looked  as  though  he  could  not  have  said  grrmr 
or  bah  to  save  his  life. 

"  That's  a  Girl  Scout,"  said  Mr.  Harriman. 
"  Told  you  at  the  club  that  I  would  find  out  about 
'em.  Here's  a  live  one.  Caught  her  myself."  He 
acted  quite  pleased. 

"  Shall  I  wait  and  walk  over  with  you,  Mr.  Harri- 
man," asked  Rosanna,  "  or  will  you  come  as  soon 
as  you  can?  You  see  I  must  be  over  there  very 
early." 

"  I  will  come  m'self,"  said  Mr.  Harriman. 
"Want  piece  puddin'?  No?  S'good!  I  will 
come  later.  Won't  break  my  word.  Didn't  break 
yours.  Bring  these  fellows  along  if  they  have  any 
money." 

"How  much  will  we  need?"  said  the  third  old 
gentleman,  laughing. 

"Anything  from  a  nickel  up,"  replied  Rosanna. 

"  Cost  you  a  quarter,"  said  Mr.  Harriman. 
"  Cosgrove,  here,  will  have  to  pay  thirty-five  cents. 
Based  on  income  tax !  " 

Rosanna,  watching  him,  thought  she  saw  a  real 
twinkle  in  Mr.  Harriman's  eye.  She  warned  them 
to  be  on  time  and  promised  to  save  three  seats  for 
them  in  the  front  row.  Then  she  went  skipping 
happily  off.  Three  instead  of  one  to  come  to  the 
play,  two  quarters,  and  thirty-five  cents  made 
eighty-five  cents  right  there!  It  was  enough  to 
make  anyone  skip.  When  she  reached  the  barn 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

people  were  filing  up  the  broad  stairs,  and  the  room 
was  already  half  full.  Uncle  Robert  stood  near 
the  door  nodding  and  smiling  and  telling  the  Girl 
Scout  ushers  where  to  seat  one  and  another.  Ro- 
sanna  hurriedly  wrote  "  Taken  "  on  the  backs  of 
three  tickets,  and  laid  them  on  three  spaces  on  the 
bench  nearest  the  stage.  As  people  kept  coming, 
she  commenced  to  wonder  if  there  would  be  seats 
enough.  She  whispered  her  fear  to  Uncle  Robert. 

"  That's  all  right,"  he  said.  "  I  have  one  of  the 
box  stalls  downstairs  full  of  camp  chairs,  and  the 
sign  painter  is  here  to  help  me  bring  them  up  if 
chey  are  needed." 

"  You  think  of  everything,"  said  Rosanna  fondly, 
then  set  herself  to  watch  the  door  for  Mr.  Harri- 
man.  It  was  not  long  before  she  heard  the  clump, 
clump,  clump  of  his  cane  and  the  heavy  footsteps 
of  his  two  friends.  She  escorted  them  proudly  to 
their  seats,  and  left  them  nodding  appreciatively 
at  the  bright  curtain  and  all  the  fittings  of  the  little 
theatre.  Then  she  hurried  around  back  of  the 
stage. 

"  They  came,  eighty-five  cents'  worth !  "  she  whis- 
pered to  Helen. 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"  Mr.  Harriman  is  here  and  two  of  his  friends," 
said  Rosanna.  "  And  Mr.  Harriman  and  one 
friend  will  give  twenty-five  cents,  and  the  other 
will  give  thirty-five." 

"  Good !  "  said  Helen.     "  How  do  I  look?     Is  the 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

place  filling  up?  Have  you  seen  the  music  Doctor 
Rick  sent?  Five  pieces!  They  have  just  come. 
They  are  down  in  the  feed  room  getting  their  in- 
struments out.  Oh,  I  am  so  excited!  And  it  is 
all  to  make  Gwenny  well." 

"  I  am  going  out  now,"  said  Rosanna.  "  I  wish 
you  could  all  sit  out  in  front.  It  does  not  seem 
fair  for  me  to  do  so." 

"  It  is  fair,"  Helen  assured  her.  "  Didn't  you 
write  the  whole  play?  Of  course  you  must  see 
that  it  is  played  right." 

When  Rosanna  appeared  she  glanced  at  Mr. 
Harriman  and  was  surprised  to  have  him  beckon 
her  to  him. 

"  Sit  here,"  he  said,  making  a  small  but  sufficient 
space  between  himself  and  one  of  his  friends  — 
the  thirty-five  cent  one,  Rosanna  noticed.  She  sat 
down,  and  as  she  did  so  the  music  started  off  with 
a  flourish.  How  splendidly  it  sounded!  It  quite 
drowned  the  sound  of  people  entering.  Uncle  Rob- 
ert, and  the  sign  painter,  and  a  couple  of  brothers 
belonging  to  one  of  the  girls  were  busy  bringing 
camp  chairs  and  placing  them  in  the  wide  aisle  and 
along  the  sides.  Two  bright  red  spots  burned  on 
Rosanna's  cheeks. 

She  looked  at  her  wrist  watch.  In  five  minutes 
it  would  begin.  And  it  did. 

A  row  of  Girl  Scouts  in  crisp,  natty  looking 
uniforms,  marching  according  to  size,  so  that  the 
large  girls  were  in  the  center  of  the  stage,  came 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

out  before  the  curtain  and  sang  one  of  their  best 
Girl  Scout  songs.  Their  voices  were  so  sweet  and 
they  sang  so  well  that  they  had  to  return  and  give 
an  encore.  Mr.  Harriman  pounded  with  his  cane. 

Then  the  Webster  girls,  dressed  as  fairies,  came 
out  and  danced  what  the  program  called  the  Moon- 
beam Dance,  and  behold,  Uncle  Robert  had  fixed 
a  spot  light  so  they  looked  pink  and  white  and 
purple  and  blue  by  turns  and  it  was  like  a  real 
theatre. 

There  was  so  much  applause  alter  this  that  Ro- 
sanna  could  not  help  wondering  if  it  was  a  good 
strong  barn ! 

Then  there  was  a  short  pause  while  the  orchestra 
played. 

As  it  ended,  Uncle  Robert  appeared  before  the 
curtain.  He  looked  so  beautiful  to  Rosanna  in  his 
evening  dress  with  his  merry  eyes  and  pleasant 
smile,  that  her  eyes  filled  with  tears  of  pride.  And 
he  made  a  beautiful  simple  little  speech.  He  told 
the  audience  a  great  deal  about  the  Girl  Scouts 
and  all  the  good  the  organization  was  doing  for 
the  girls  and  others  as  well,  and  then  he  told  of 
the  little  lame  girl,  suffering  so  hopelessly  and  so 
patiently,  and  how  these  Girl  Scouts  had  deter- 
mined to  help  her.  He  told  them  there  was  no 
price  set  on  the  tickets,  because  some  might  feel 
like  giving  ten  cents  or  even  a  quarter  or  so  but 
that  no  one  was  asked  to  leave  more  than  a  nickel. 
And  then  he  called  their  attention  to  the  beautiful 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

curtain  and  told  them  that  that  and  the  scenery  was 
the  gift  of  a  friend  who  was  a  sign  painter,  who 
had  done  it  Sundays  and  nights  after  work  as  his 
contribution  to  the  benefit,  and  everybody  clapped 
furiously,  and  Mr.  Harriman  and  the  thirty-five 
cent  gentleman  commenced  to  nudge  each  other 
behind  Rosanna.  She  was  sitting  on  the  very  front 
edge  of  the  bench. 

Then  Uncle  Robert  said: 

tc  After  another  short  selection  by  the  orchestra 
there  will  be  a  play  written  by  one  of  the  Girl 
Scouts.  We  hope  that  you  will  enjoy  it."  He 
bowed,  and  stepped  behind  the  curtain,  while  every- 
body clapped  and  Mr.  Harriman  thumped  with  his 
cane. 

As  the  orchestra  struck  up,  the  thirty-five  cent 
gentleman  leaned  over  to  Mr.  Harriman  and  said, 
"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it,  Dick?  " 

"  Do  'swell  's  you  do,"  said  Mr.  Harriman. 

"Just  as  much?"  questioned  the  thirty-five  cent 
gentleman. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Harriman,  snorting.  "And 
fifty  over !  " 

"  I  will  break  even  with  you  both,"  said  the  third 
gentleman,  leaning  across. 

Mr.  Cosgrove  took  out  a  check  book  and  a  foun- 
tain pen  and  commenced  to  write.  Mr.  Harriman 
leaned  behind  Rosanna  and  watched. 

"  Poh !  Hum !  Grrrrrr !  Piker !  "  he  said,  and 
Mr.  Cosgrove,  laughing,  tore  up  his  check  and  wrote 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

another  which  he  handed  to  Mr.  Harriman.  Ro- 
sanna  did  not  think  it  would  be  polite  to  look,  but 
wondered  what  in  the  world  they  were  doing  when 
they  should  have  been  listening  to  the  music. 

"S'all  right/'  said  Mr.  Harriman.  "Girl's 
pretty  lame,  isn't  she,  Rosanna?  " 

"  Gwenny  can't  walk  at  all,"  replied  Rosanna, 
"and  even  at  night  her  back  hurts  so  she  can't 
sleep." 

"  Poor  little  broken  pot,"  said  the  third  gentle- 
man softly.  "  A  pity  that  the  hand  of  the  Potter 
slipped." 

"  Save  your  poetry,  Bristol !  "  grunted  Mr.  Harri- 
man. "  This  talks  better."  He  struck  the  check 
book  with  his  pen,  and  Mr.  Bristol,  borrowing  a 
page,  wrote  busily  as  the  curtain  rose. 

Rosanna,  hoping  they  would  forget  business  for 
awhile,  bent  her  eyes  on  the  stage. 


CHAPTER  VII 

As  the  play  progressed  Rosanna  commenced  to 
doubt  her  own  senses.  It  did  not  seem  possible 
that  she  could  have  written  anything  so  good  and 
so  interesting. 

When  the  act  ended,  there  was  a  louder  burst 
of  applause  than  at  any  other  time,  and  to  Ro- 
sanna's  horror  some  one  in  the  back  of  the  room 
commenced  to  cry,  "Author,  author !"  Rosanna 
did  not  realize  at  first  that  they  meant  her  and  was 
looking  around  the  room  with  a  great  deal  of  in- 
terest when  she  felt  both  Mr.  Harriman  and  Mr. 
Cosgrove  pushing  her  to  her  feet.  She  stood  up 
because  they  shoved  her  up,  and  she  did  not  know 
what  to  do  next. 

Then  the  most  amazing  thing  of  all  happened. 

Mr.  Harriman  rose  to  his  feet  and  taking  Ro- 
sanna firmly  by  the  arm  as  though  she  might  dash 
off  any  instant,  he  started  toward  the  three  little 
steps  at  one  side  of  the  stage.  Up  these  steps  he 
sternly  piloted  Rosanna,  while  everyone  in  the  room 
clapped  and  clapped  again.  All  of  Louisville  knew 
Mr.  Harriman,  and  when  everybody  saw  that  he 
was  escorting  the  little  girl  who  had  written  the 
play,  they  sat  quite  still  to  see  what  would 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

next.  When  they  reached  the  stage  and  stood  fac- 
ing the  audience,  someone  called,  "  Speech, 
speech !  "  but  that  was  Vay,  Vay  beyond  Rosanna, 
who  was  perfectly  overcome  anyway.  She  looked 
pleadingly  at  Mr.  Harriman,  who  knew  what  she 
meant,  and  took  pity  on  her. 

"  Hum,  grrrrrr,"  he  commenced.  "  Ladies  and 
gentlemen,  this  little  lady,  who  is  the  author  and 
producer  of  the  play  you  have  just  seen,  asks  me 
to  speak  for  her.  She  thanks  you  for  your  appre- 
ciation, and  for  the  help  you  are  giving  to  herself 
and  these  other  generous  Girl  Scouts  in  their  efforts 
to  assist  a  girl  less  fortunate  than  themselves. 
You  have  heard  about  the  little  cripple  who  is  to 
be  benefited  by  the  work  of  these  girls,  and  I  think 
we,  the  audience  fortunate  enough  to  be  present 
at  this  memorable  occasion,  will  esteem  it  a  pleas- 
ure to  do  what  we  can  toward  making  it  possible  for 
this  little  sufferer  to  obtain  a  possible  cure  through 
a  very  serious  and  expensive  operation.  We  thank 
you.  Grrrrrr ! "  He  glared  at  Mr.  Cosgrove  and 
Mr.  Bristol,  and  bowed.  Rosanna  dipped  a  hasty 
curtsey,  and  they  went  off  the  stage  again  as  every- 
body clapped  and  the  music  struck  up  the  j oiliest 
piece  they  knew.  The  entertainment  was  over! 

Back  with  Mr.  Cosgrove  and  Mr.  Bristol,  each 
old  gentleman  shook  hands  with  Rosanna  and 
started  for  the  door,  where  Uncle  Robert,  intent 
on  the  most  important  part  of  all,  sat  at  the  table 
on  which  was  a  shoe  box  with  a  slot  cut  in  the 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

cover.  He  was  smiling  and  beaming  and  saying, 
"  Thank  you !  "  over  and  over  as  people  congratu- 
lated him  on  Rosanna's  play.  Miss  Hooker  stood 
beside  him  looking  so  sweet  and  true  and  pretty 
that  when  Mr.  Harriman  came  up  and  looked  at 
her,  and  started  to  say  "  Grrrrrr,"  it  actually 
sounded  like  a  purr!  He  hastily  shoved  something 
white  through  the  slot,  and  Mr.  Cosgrove  and  Mr. 
Bristol  followed  him,  looking  very  guilty. 

Then  Mr.  Harriman  turned  back. 

"Absolutely  confidential,  Horton!  No  news- 
papers ! "  he  said. 

"  Absolutely,  sir,  and  thank  you,"  said  Uncle  Rob- 
ert, bowing  to  the  three.  He  commenced  to  suspect 
something ! 

Miss  Hooker  stooped  to  whisper  something  to 
Robert.  As  soon  as  the  last  person  had  left  the 
hall,  he  obeyed  the  whisper,  and  taking  the  precious 
box,  which  was  sealed  with  red  sealing  wax  where 
the  cover  went  on,  he  went  behind  the  scenes.  All 
the  girls  were  there,  as  well  as  the  sign-painter 
and  the  two  brothers.  These  three  looked  im- 
mensely relieved  when  a  fourth  member  of  their 
sex  appeared.  Mrs.  Hargrave  was  there  too,  and 
she  was  inviting  everyone  to  walk  over  to  her  house 
and  have  something  to  eat.  She  said  she  believed 
it  was  customary  after  the  first  presentation  of  a 
play. 

When  some  of  the  girls  said  they  would  have  to 
go  home  with  their  folks  on  account  of  getting  home 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

with  escort,  Mrs.  Hargrave  at  once  added  that  she 
had  arranged  with  Mrs.  Horton  to  send  the  girls 
home  in  their  automobiles. 

So  very  soon  they  were  all  in  Mrs.  Hargrave's  im- 
mense dining-room,  sitting  in  chairs  ranged  round 
the  room  and  being  served  chicken  bouillon  and 
sandwiches,  and  fruit  salad,  and  olives,  and  cocoa, 
and  ice-creain  with  whipped  cream  on  top.  All 
they  could  eat  of  each  thing  too! 

"  I  can't  wait  to  see  the  inside  of  that  box,"  said 
Mrs.  Hargrave  after  all  the  Girl  Scouts  and  the 
sign  painter  and  the  two  brothers  had  said  good 
night  and  thank  you,  and  had  gone.  "What  if 
these  children  of  ours  do  have  to  sleep  half  the 
day  tomorrow?  Telephone  your  mother,  Miss 
Hooker,  that  you  are  here  with  me,  and  that  you 
will  be  home  presently,  and  we  will  go  into  the 
library  and  watch  Robert  count  the  money.  And 
whatever  is  lacking,  when  it  comes  to  settling  for 
that  operation,  Mrs.  Horton  and  I  intend  to  make 
up." 

Robert  Horton  laughed. 

"  I  have  an  idea  that  you  are  on  the  safe  side 
of  the  bargain,  dear  lady,"  he  said.  "  I  think  this 
box  will  surprise  us." 

"  How  much  do  you  suppose  is  in  it?  "  asked 
Miss  Hooker  as  she  started  for  the  telephone.  "  A 
hundred  dollars?  " 

"  Five  hundred  at  the  least,"  answered  Uncle 
Robert. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Everybody  started  to  hurry  for  the  library  at 
that  as  though  the  money  in  the  box  would  have 
to  be  counted  as  rapidly  as  possible  for  fear  it  might 
fly  away. 

Uncle  Robert  happened  to  sit  beside  Miss  Hooker 
again,  but  Rosanna  sat  on  the  other  side.  He  cut 
the  sealing  wax  and  opened  the  box.  There  was 
all  sorts  of  silver  money  there  except  nickels! 
There  was  not  one  nickel.  Dimes,  quarters,  fifty- 
cent  pieces,  and  silver  dollars,  but  not  a  nickel. 

Uncle  Robert  placed  the  coins  in  neat  piles,  then 
he  commenced  to  stack  the  paper  money.  After  he 
had  done  this,  he  sorted  out  five  checks,  which  he 
laid  by  themselves  quite  respectfully,  face  down. 

Then  he  drew  out  a  pencil  and  paper  and  com- 
menced to  count.  No  one  spoke.  At  the  last,  still 
keeping  the  faces  of  the  five  checks  out  of  sight,  he 
added  them  in,  covered  the  paper  with  his  hand, 
and  looked  up.  He  seemed  dazed. 

"  HOTV  much  do  you  think?  "  he  demanded. 

"  Don't  make  us  guess,  Robert,"  said  his  mother. 

"  Two  thousand,  two  hundred  and  thirty -four  dol- 
lars and  twenty-five  cents,"  he  said  slowly. 

"  Impossible !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Hargrave  sharply. 

Miss  Hooker  gave  a  gasp.  The  girls,  perfectly 
round-eyed,  sat  silent. 

"  There  it  is !  "  said  Mr.  Horton.  "  Mr.  Bristol 
and  Mr.  Cosgrove  each  gave  a  check  for  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  Mr.  Harriman  wrote  his  for  five 
hundred  and  fifty." 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Mrs.  Horton  sniffed. 

"  Dick  Harriman  never  gave  twenty-five  dollars 
to  anything  like  this  in  his  life,"  she  said. 

"  Well,  here  is  his  check,"  declared  her  son. 

"  So  that  is  where  the  fifty  came  in,"  said  Ro- 
sanna,  finding  her  voice.  She  repeated  the  conver- 
sation she  had  heard.  Everybody  laughed. 

"  Poor  Dick !  "  said  Mrs.  Hargrave.  "  He  doesn't 
feel  well,  and  his  bark  is  so  bad  that  I  doubt  if 
anyone  ever  before  stopped  to  see  what  his  bite  was 
like  until  Rosanna  tried.  I  reckon  he  is  happier 
tonight  than  he  has  been  for  a  long  while.  He 
would  think  it  was  a  great  joke,  too,  to  cajole  Henry 
Bristol  and  Clinton  Cosgrove  into  giving  that 
money.  Well,  they  can  afford  it  many  times  over, 
so  it  will  do  them  all  good." 

"  Too  bad  Rick  MacLaren  isn't  here,"  said  Uncle 
Robert.  "  He  has  a  sick  patient  on  hand,  and 
couldn't  come.  I  will  tell  him  the  first  thing  in 
the  morning." 

"  And  these  girls  must  go  to  bed,"  said  Mrs.  Hor- 
ton. "Are  you  going  to  stay  with  Rosanna, 
Helen?" 

"  I  think  I  will  just  have  to  go  home  and  tell 
mother  and  father  about  it  if  there  is  any  wray  for 
me  to  get  there,"  replied  Helen. 

"  If  Miss  Hooker  feels  like  the  extra  walk,  we 
will  take  you  on  our  way  to  her  house,"  said  Uncle 
Robert  easrerlv. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  I  would  love  it,"  said  Miss  Hooker  obligingly. 

Rosanna  marvelled. 

Miss  Hooker  lived  blocks  away  from  Helen,  in 
the  opposite  direction,  but  as  the  older  people  said 
nothing,  Rosanna  kept  silence.  At  all  events  the 
benefit  was  over,  and  her  Uncle  Robert  would  no 
longer  feel  obliged  to  spend  all  his  time  with  a  mere 
girl,  because  no  matter  how  lovely,  Rosanna  knew 
that  he  didn't  care  for  girls. 

A  number  of  girls  ranging  in  age  from  twelve 
to  sixteen  were  busy  repeating  in  a  number  of 
homes  that  night  just  how  they  had  felt  at  different 
times  during  the  evening,  and  explaining  to  less 
fortunate  brothers  and  sisters  how  good  everything 
had  tasted  afterwards.  And  Sunday  morning,  a 
great  many  mothers  had  a  difficult  time  getting 
their  Girl  Scout  daughters  awake. 

Rosanna  had  a  long  talk  with  Uncle  Bob.  She 
wanted  to  know  what  was  going  to  be  done  about 
the  money. 

"I  have  been  thinking  about  that,"  said  Uncle 
Robert.  "  I  will  put  it  in  the  bank  the  first  thing 
tomorrow  morning.  I  shall  put  it  in  the  office  bank 
for  safe  keeping  until  then." 

"  Do  you  suppose  it  will  take  all  of  it  for 
Gwenny's  operation?  "  asked  Rosanna. 

"  No,  I  do  not,"  Robert  replied,  "  but  of  course 
Doctor  Branshaw  is  a  very  high  priced  specialist, 
and  he  sets  his  own  fees." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  If  he  knew  that  Gwenny  was  a  poor  little  girl 
and  that  the  Girl  Scouts  were  taking  care  of  her, 
I  wonder  if  it  would  make  any  difference?  " 

Uncle  Robert  shook  his  head.  "  I  don't  believe 
I  would  ask  a  favor  of  anyone,  now  that  you  have 
earned  such  a  lot  of  money.  Just  go  ahead  and 
pay  her  way  like  good  sports.  At  that,  with  the 
hospital  charges  and  nurses  paid,  I  think  you  may 
have  a  little  left  over.  If  we  have,  we  will  have 
to  find  the  best  way  to  spend  it  for  Gwenny.  I 
want  to  consult  with  Miss  Hooker  about  it  later 
if  she  is  not  too  tired." 

"  Consult  again !  Oh,  poor  Uncle  Robert !  "  said 
Rosanna  compassionately.  "  I  thought  that  was 
all  over  with." 

"  It  is  not  as  painful  as  you  seem  to  think,"  said 
Uncle  Robert  dryly.  "  At  all  events,  my  health  is 
not  breaking  under  the  strain.  I  never  knew  you 
to  fuss  so,  Rosanna.  Just  what  have  you  up  your 
sleeve  anyhow?  Don't  you  like  your  Captain  after 
all?" 

"  Oh,  I  perfectly  love  her,"  cried  Rosanna 
warmly.  "  You  don't  know  how  sweet  she  is,  Uncle 
Robert!  And  she  is  such  a  good  Captain.  Every 
girl  in  the  patrol  loves  her  and  will  do  anything 
in  the  world  for  her." 

Seeing  that  Uncle  Robert  appeared  to  be  listen- 
ing, Rosanna  went  on  warming  to  her  subject. 

"  At  the  Rally,  I  heard  one  of  the  ladies  say  that 
our  Captain  was  considered  the  best  one  in  all  the 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

city.  And  she  looks  so  young;  just  like  one  of  the 
girls  when  she  gets  into  her  Scout  uniform.  When 
we  are  on  hikes,  she  runs  around  and  plays  with 
us  and  joins  all  our  games.  Oh,  yes,  Uncle  Robert, 
I  do  love  her  dearly !  " 

"  I  don't  know  but  what  I  do  myself,"  admitted 
Uncle  Robert  unexpectedly. 

"Why,  Uncle  Robert!"  said  Rosanna  in  a 
shocked  tone.  "  What  a  thing  for  you  to  ^ay !  " 

Uncle  Robert  wondered  if  he  had  made  a  mistake. 
It  was  not  the  sort  of  a  remark  he  would  want 
repeated.  So  he  made  another  mistake. 

"Wasn't  it?  A  joke,  Rosanna;  just  a  merry 
jest.  Thought  you  would  laugh  over  it.  Ha  ha! 
Ha  ha!" 

"  Ha  ha ! "  repeated  Rosanna  to  be  agreeable. 
Sometimes  Uncle  Robert  was  rather  disappointing. 
"  But  she  is  lovely  anyway,  and  has  loads  and 
loads  of  friends,  and,  Uncle  Robert,  I  think  she 
has  a  sweetheart  because  boxes  and  boxes  of  flowers 
come  to  her,  and  she  just  keeps  a  little  one  to  wear, 
and  sends  all  the  rest  to  the  hospital.  And  lovely 
books  come  by  mail  and  the  fattest  letters!  One 
had  poetry  in  it,  too.  I  could  tell  by  the  shape  of 
the  writing  down  the  page." 

"  Don't  snoop,  Rosanna,"  said  Uncle  Robert 
sharply. 

"  I  didn't,  Uncle  Robert,"  said  Rosanna  in  a  hurt 
tone.  "  She  was  sitting  close  to  me  on  the  sofa, 
and  I  couldn't  help  seeing.  She  liked  it  too,  be- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

cause  she  smiled  so  sweetly  and  showed  all  her 
dimples,  even  the  one  that  almost  never  comes  out." 

"What  a  little  ray  of  sunshine  you  are,  Ro- 
sanna ! "  said  her  uncle  strangely. 

"  Thank  you ;  a  Girl  Scout  ought  to  be/'  replied 
Rosanna. 

"  Well,  you  are,  all  right,  sweetness,"  said  Uncle 
Robert.  He  sighed  deeply  almost  as  though  the 
ray  of  sunshine  had  not  come  his  way  at  all.  He 
kissed  Rosanna  and  then  sat  her  down  rather  hard 
in  a  deep  chair.  "  I  don't  know  when  I  have  felt 
so  cheered  up.  And  now,  if  you  would  like  to  call 
the  garage  and  order  the  little  car  for  me,  I  will 
go  around  to  see  Doctor  MacLaren  and  tell  him 
the  good  news  of  our  fortune.  And  on  second 
thoughts,  I  don't  believe  I  will  have  to  consult  with 
Miss  Hooker  at  all.  I  think  perhaps  you  are  right. 
I  have  bothered  her  enough." 

"  She  has  been  very  polite  and  kind  about  it  all, 
hasn't  tshe?"  asked  Rosanna. 

"  Most  polite  and  kind,"  Mr.  Horton  agreed. 
"  But  we  don't  want  to  wear  her  kindness  out,  do 
we,  Rosanna?  I  will  go  see  Rick,  and  in  a  day 
or  two  my  part  of  this  affair  will  be  finished.  And 
I  won't  have  to  bother  anybody.  I  am  thinking 
of  a  little  trip  out  West,  Rosanna.  I  wish  you 
could  go  with  me." 

"  I  wish  I  could !  "  said  Rosanna,  "  but  grand- 
mother wouldn't  want  me  to  leave  school,  and  be- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

sides  I  couldn't  leave  the  Scouts  just  now.  Where 
do  you  think  of  going,  Uncle  Robert?  " 

"  Nowhere  in  particular,  unless  — "  he  thought 
a  moment.  "  It  might  be  fun  to  look  up  some  place 
where  they  had  never  heard  of  the  Girl  Scouts." 

"Perfectly  splendid!"  said  Rosanna.  "  That 
would  be  doing  a  good  deed.  You  could  tell  the 
people  about  us,  and  start  a  patrol.  I  must  tell 
Miss  Hooker  about  this ;  she  will  think  it  is  so  nice 
of  you.  She  appreciates  kind  acts,  even  if  she 
doesn't  like  men." 

"  It  is  not  worth  mentioning,  Rosanna,"  answered 
Uncle  Robert.  "  Besides,  I  didn't  have  just  that 
in  mind.  However,  I  hear  the  car  and  will  leave 
you  before  —  before  I  do  anything  I  regret." 

He  went  off,  and  Rosanna  watched  him  through 
the  window  as  he  started  his  car.  He  was  real 
jerky  with  it,  and  it  sputtered  and  missed,  and  went 
off  with  a  leap. 

"  He  is  all  tired  out/'  thought  Rosanna, 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TIME  passed,  a  great  many  things  happening. 
Gwenny,  accompanied  by  her  mother  (there  being- 
plenty  of  money  for  everything),  was  taken  away 
to  the  place  of  her  great  trial.  When  the  question 
arose  as  to  what  should  be  done  with  Mary  and 
Tommy  and  Myron  and  Luella  and  Baby  Christo- 
pher, Rosanna  thought  of  Minnie,  always  so  good 
and  kind.  She  went  to  see  her,  and  the  result  was 
that  Minnie  volunteered  to  stay  at  Gwenny's  and 
run  the  little  house  and  take  care  of  the  children 
as  long  as  Mrs.  Harter  was  needed  in  Cincinnati. 
Both  Doctor  MacLaren  and  Mr.  Horton  went  with 
Mrs.  Harter  and  Gwenny,  and  made  the  journey 
as  comfortable  as  they  possibly  could.  The  great 
Doctor  Branshaw,  after  seeing  his  patient,  said  that 
she  must  have  at  least  a  week  of  rest  under  his 
own  eye  before  he  would  be  willing  to  try  the  op- 
eration. So  Gwenny  was  settled  in  a  sunny  room 
at  the  hospital  where  she  at  once  became  the  pet 
of  the  ward  and  Doctor  MacLaren  and  Mr.  Horton 
came  home. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  the  very  next  Sunday, 
Mr.  Horton  came  into  the  house  looking  the  picture 
of  gloom.  He  scarcely  spoke  to  his  mother  and 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Rosanna  but  rushed  up  to  his  room  and  immedi- 
ately there  was  a  sound  of  things  being  dragged 
around,  and  many  footsteps.  And  the  door  opened 
and  shut  a  great  many  times.  Mrs.  Horton  won- 
dered what  that  boy  was  up  to  now  and  went  on 
reading.  But  Rosanna  listened  with  a  black  sus- 
picion growing  in  her  mind. 

And,  sure  enough,  Mr.  Horton  came  down  pres- 
ently to  announce  that  he  was  going  away  for  a 
few  weeks.  He  was  getting  stale,  he  said,  and 
needed  a  little  change.  When  he  saw  Rosanna's 
round  eyes  fixed  on  him,  he  looked  away  but  re- 
peated that  he  felt  stale. 

"  It  is  that  War,"  said  his  mother,  as  though 
the  war  should  be  severely  reprimanded.  "  Before 
you  went  into  that  war,  you  were  always  contented. 
Now  nothing  contents  you  for  long." 

"  Perhaps  you  are  right/'  admitted  Robert  ab- 
sently. "  At  all  events  I  can  be  spared  from  the 
office  just  now  better  than  at  any  other  time,  and 
I  am  going  to  go  away." 

And  go  he  did  an  hour  later.  Mrs.  Hargrave 
and  Elise  came  in  presently  to  take  Sunday  night 
luncheon. 

"Where  is  Robert?"  asked  Mrs.  Hargrave,  see- 
ing that  no  place  was  set  for  him. 

"  Gone  off  for  a  vacation,"  said  his  mother. 

"  Dear  me,  isn't  he  well?  "  asked  Mrs.  Hargrave. 

"  Perfectly,  but  he  just  took  one  of  his  notions 
and  went." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Anything  —  er  —  happened,  do  you  suppose?  " 
questioned  Mrs.  Hargrave.  "  Anything  —  er,  you 
know.  Misunderstanding? " 

"  Possibly,"  answered  Mrs.  Horton.  "  That  is 
what  I  suspect.  But  I  don't  know  anything." 

"  Oh  dear,  oh  dear ! "  cried  Mrs.  Hargrave,  fold- 
ing her  fine  old  hands  together.  "  It  is  too  bad ! 
Can't  something  be  done?  Why,  Robert  is  the 
finest  boy  in  this  world !  He  is  just  what  I  dream 
my  son  would  have  been  if  I  had  had  one.  Do 
you  suppose  one  could  say  anything  to  the  other 
person  ?  " 

"  No,  indeed,"  said  Mrs.  Horton.  "  I  don't  know, 
you  see.  I  only  suspect." 

So  Uncle  Robert  went  away,  and  Gwenny  was 
off  at  the  hospital,  and  Rosanna  and  Helen  spent 
all  their  time  drilling  Elise  inr  the  requirements 
of  the  Tenderfoot  examination.  Elise  was  quick 
to  learn,  but  she  found  more  difficulty  in  learning 
this  because  her  knowledge  of  English  was  of  course 
limited.  The  girls  were  anxious  to  make  a  brilliant 
showing  with  their  recruit. 

Over  and  over  they  drilled  her  in  the  Tenderfoot 
examination,  at  the  last  requiring  her  to  write  the 
answers  to  the  examination  paper  which  read  as 
follows : 

TENDERFOOT  EXAMINATION, 

WRITTEN. 

"*     a  Give  the  Scout  promise. 

b  What  does  the  Scout  motto  mean? 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

2  Give  the  Scout  laws  in  order. 

3  a  What  is  the  purpose  of  the  Scout  movement? 
b  What  does  a  Scout's  honor  mean? 

c  Give  the  meaning  of  one  law. 

d  How  and  when  should  the  Scout  salute  be  given? 

e  Explain  the  Scout  badge. 

4  a  Who  made  the  American  flag? 
b  Why  was  a  flag  needed? 

c  In  what  city  was  it  made?    What  year? 
d  Name  the  committee  appointed  to  design  it. 

5  a  Quote  General  Washington's  words  about  the  flag. 
b  When  was  the  flag  officially  adopted? 

c  Describe  the  first  official  flag  of  the  stars  and  stripes. 

6  a  What  do  the  stars  represent?     The  stripes? 

b  For  what  do  the  colors,  red,  white  and  blue  stand? 

C  How  many  stars  has  the  flag  now?    What  day  is  Flag 

day? 
d  When  is  a  new  star  added  and  why? 

7  Give  fully  the  respect  due  the  flag. 

8  a  What  should  Scouts  do  when  the  National  Anthem  is 

played  ? 
b  What  should  Civilians  do  at  Retreat?     Scouts? 

9  a  What  is  the  United  States  Government? 
b  Who  is  at  its  head? 

c  Name  the  Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
10    a  Write  America. 

b  Write  The  Star  Spangled  Banner  (omitting  3rd  stanza). 

Then  followed  the  demonstration  of  knots  and 
knot  tying.  Over  and  over  they  drilled  her,  and 
Elise  was  an  apt  pupil.  Her  delicate  little  fingers 
seemed  to  know  of  themselves  what  to  do. 

"  I  am  glad  she  is  to  write  that  examination," 
sighed  Helen  the  day  before  Elise  was  to  go  to  Cap- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALL? 

tain  Hooker  and  take  her  examination  formally. 
She  was  to  be  examined  on  Friday  afternoon, 
and  at  the  meeting  Saturday  night  she  was  to 
become  a  Tenderfoot  Scout  member  of  their 
patrol. 

"What  difference  does  it  make  whether  she 
writes  the  exam,  or  recites  her  answers?  "  returned 
Kosanna.  "  She  speaks  brokenly,  of  course,  but 
that  does  not  matter." 

"  All  it  matters  is  that  no  one  could  hear  her 
speak  of  General  Washington  the  way  she  does  in 
her  funny  broken  English,  without  wanting  to 
scream.  It  is  so  funny." 

Funny  or  not,  Elise  went  through  her  examina- 
tion most  successfully  and  Saturday  night  accom- 
panied Helen  and  Eosanna  to  the  meeting  at  Miss 
Hooker's  house.  Their  little  Captain  had  fitted  up 
a  room  specially  for  her  girls,  where  they  could 
keep  their  various  documents  and  where  the  seats, 
the  neat  desk  for  the  secretary,  and  the  standard 
for  the  big  silk  flag  did  not  need  to  be  disturbed 
in  the  intervals  between  meetings. 

Elise  was  thrilled  beyond  words. 

As  they  entered  the  room  she  saw  that  the  two 
girls  saluted  their  little  Captain.  Not  knowing  if 
she  was  expected  to  salute  before  becoming  a  Scout, 
Elise  dropped  a  shy  curtsey  and  followed  Rosanna 
to  a  seat  where  they  awaited  the  full  number  of 
Scouts  and  the  shrill  whistle  from  the  Lieutenant 
which  brought  the  meeting  to  order. 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  EALLY 

"  The  first  whistle  means  Attention/'  whispered 
Helen. 

Once  again  it  sounded. 

"  That  is  for  Assembly,"  whispered  Eosanna  on 
the  other  side,  as  all  the  girls  rose. 

Leaving  Elise  in  her  seat,  the  Scouts  formed  in 
double  ranks  at  a  distance  of  forty  inches  between 
ranks  and  an  interval  of  sixty  inches  between 
patrols. 

The  eight  girls  who  formed  a  patrol  took  their 
places  in  groups  as  signified  by  the  crosses. 

Patrol  Patrol  Patrol 

XXXX  XXXX  XXXX 

XXXX  XXXX  XXXX 

Captain  X         X  Lieutenant 

Elise  found  out  afterward  that  number  one  in 
the  front  rank  of  each  patrol  is  the  Patrol  leader, 
and  number  four  the  Corporal. 

At  the  command  "Company,  attention!"  from 
the  little  Captain,  now  standing  so  straight  and  so 
stern  that  Elise  scarcely  recognized  her,  the  Com- 
pany as  a  whole  stiffened  to  attention. 

The  Lieutenant,  a  tall,  pretty  girl  of  nineteen, 
then  commanded,  "  Corporals  from  Patrols !  "  and 
the  three  Corporals  stepped  forward  two  paces, 
made  two  right  turns,  and  stood  facing  the  center  of 
the  patrol.  The  Corporals  then  snapped  out  to- 
gether, "  Attention !  Right  Dress !  "  after  which 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

they  faced  left,  took  two  paces,  made  right  turn, 
right  face,  and  looked  critically  down  the  line  to  see 
that  it  was  perfectly  straight.  After  two  short  left 
steps  to  straighten  the  rear  line,  they  faced  right, 
took  four  paces  forward,  and  with  two  right  turns 
got  back  in  position  facing  patrol  and  called  the 
command  "  Front !  Count  off !  " 

The  Corporals  then  one  after  the  other  called 
the  roll  of  her  Patrol,  and  finishing  that,  turned 
and  reported  to  the  Lieutenant  that  the  Patrol 
was  formed,  after  which  they  returned  to  their 
places  in  the  ranks,  and  the  Lieutenant,  saluting 
the  Captain,  reported,  "  Captain,  the  Company  is 
formed." 

Inspection  then  followed.  Each  girl,  saluting, 
stepped  forward  and  her  hair,  teeth,  hands,  nails, 
shoes  and  general  appearance  was  scrutinized. 

Elise  watched  all  this  with  great  interest,  interest 
which  deepened  as  the  Captain  commanded  "  Color 
guard,  march !  "  and  three  girls  stepped  from  the 
ranks  and  stood  side  by  side  for  a  moment,  then  at 
a  word  of  command  marched  to  the  flag.  There 
they  saluted  and  marched  back ;  when  the  Captain 
and  the  Lieutenant  faced  about,  and  the  Captain 
in  her  silvery  voice  said : 

"  The  Flag  of  your  Country ;  pledge  allegiance !  " 

With  one  voice  the  girls  united  in  the  beautiful 
pledge  to  the  flag,  "  I  pledge  allegiance  to  the  flag, 
and  to  the  republic  for  which  it  stands ;  one  nation 
indivisible,  with  liberty  and  justice  for  all." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  EALLY 

Elise  looked  at  the  silken  folds  of  the  glorious 
red,  white  and  blue  with  tears  in  her  eyes.  How 
glad  she  was  to  make  that  pledge !  Had  not  that 
flag,  the  flag  that  was  now  her  own,  floated  over 
the  shell-racked  fields  of  France?  Oh,  she  loved 
it! 

The  color  guard  returned,  and  the  fresh  young 
voices  rose  in  the  first  verse  of  America. 

"  Scouts,  your  promise !  "  said  the  Captain. 

"  To  do  my  duty  to  God  and  to  my  country. 
To  help  other  people  at  all  times. 
To  obey  the  laws  of  the  Scouts," 

the  voices  rang  out. 

"  The  laws !  "  said  the  Captain. 
Again  the  chorus  of  girls  repeated : 

A  Girl  Scout's  honor  is  to  be  trusted. 

A  Girl  Scout  is  loyal. 

A  Girl  Scout's  duty  is  to  be  useful,  and  help  others. 

A  Girl  Scout  is  a  friend  to  all,  and  a  sister  to  every  other  Girl 

Scout. 

A  Girl  Scout  is  courteous. 
A  Girl  Scout  keeps  herself  pure. 
A  Girl  Scout  is  a  friend  to  animals. 
A  Girl  Scout  obeys  orders. 
A  Girl  Scout  is  cheerful. 
A  Girl  Scout  is  thrifty. 

"  Dismissed !  "  said  the  little  Captain  and,  break- 
ing ranks,  the  girls  went  to  their  seats  where  they 
sat  talking  in  low  tones  until  the  sharp  sound  of 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

the  Lieutenant's  whistle  called  them  to  attention 
again. 

"  Now  I  do  come,"  said  Elise  to  herself,  and  her 
heart  commenced  to  hammer  in  quite  an  alarming 
fashion.  But  it  was  not  quite  time  for  her  to  rise. 
Looking  at  Rosanna,  she  saw  her  give  a  slight  shake 
of  the  head,  and  Elise  leaned  back  in  her  seat  while 
all  the  business  of  the  meeting  was  settled  and 
plans  made  for  some  aid  for  a  poor  family  living 
near. 

One  thing  Elise  noticed  particularly.  The  girls 
present  were  widely  different  in  looks,  and  Elise 
with  her  delicate  perceptions  saw  plainly  that  they 
belonged  in  widely  differing  classes,  so  called.  A 
few  of  the  girls,  Rosanna  among  them,  had  the 
carefully  cared  for  and  delicately  nurtured  look 
of  the  very  rich.  More  were  like  Helen,  clean, 
carefully  groomed  and  almost  precise  in  her  dress 
and  accr  series.  Others  were  very  evidently  poor, 
with  rough  little  hands  that  already  told  the  story 
of  hard  work  and  few  toilet  creams.  But  whoever 
they  were,  they  saw  no  difference  in  each  other. 
They  were  Girl  Scouts  in  the  fullest  and  best  sense 
of  the  word :  sisters  pledged  to  each  other,  and  liv- 
ing up  to  that  pledge  in  all  earnestness  and  honor. 

Elise,  waiting  for  her  summons  to  go  forward, 
and  understanding  nothing  of  the  business  that  was 
going  on,  threw  her  thoughts  backward.  She  saw 
herself  the  idolized  child  of  the  gay,  rich  young 
couple  in  the  great  chateau,  where  long  painted 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

lines  of  powdered  and  frilled  and  armor-clad  an- 
cestors looked  down  at  her  from  the  long  galleries, 
and  where  dozens  of  willing  servants  danced  to 
do  her  bidding.  Then  the  picture  changed,  and 
with  the  roll  of  drums  and  the  thunder  of  cannon, 
she  saw  the  hated  foe  march  across  her  land,  de- 
stroying as  they  came.  Father,  mother,  grand- 
mother, home,  riches;  all  went  down  as  under  a 
devouring  tide.  Then  the  promises  of  her  Monsieur 
Bob,  and  after  long,  long  weary  days  spent  with 
the  ladies  of  the  Red  Cross  came  the  journey  into 
the  Unknown,  that  trip  across  an  ocean  that  was 
to  forever  separate  her  from  a  past  that  was  too 
terrible  for  a  little  girl  to  have  known. 

To  have  found  refuge  in  Mrs.  Hargrave's  tender 
arms,  to  have  won  such  love  and  such  friends  — 
to  be  able  to  be  a  Girl  Scout  — 

Elise  turned  her  eyes,  brimming  with  sudden 
tears,  to  the  flag. 

"  Never,  never  will  I  zem  disappoint !  "  she  whis- 
pered tenderly,  using  as  best  she  could  the  un-' 
familiar  words  of  her  adopted  tongue. 


CHAPTER  IX 

AT  last  Elise  saw  the  Captain  glance  in  her 
direction  as  the  whistle  blew  once  more  for  atten- 
tion and  the  Captain  commanded,  "  Fall  in !  "  A 
look  of  serious  interest  appeared  on  the  faces  of 
the  girls  as  they  formed  in  a  horseshoe,  the  Captain 
and  the  Lieutenant  standing  in  the  gap  and  the 
American  flag  spread  out  before  them. 

Elise,  with  Helen  beside  her,  walked  to  a  place 
just  inside  the  circle  and  stood  facing  the  Captain. 
In  the  Lieutenant's  hands  were  the  staff  and  hat, 
the  shoulder  knot,  badge  and  neckerchief  of  the 
Tenderfoot  Elise. 

She  could  not  refrain  from  a  glance  at  them. 
How  she  had  longed  to  wear  all  those  things;  the 
insignia  of  everything  she  had  learned  to  admire 
and  look  up  to  in  the  girls  of  America ! 

"  Salute!  "  said  the  Captain. 

All  saluted  Elise,  who  stood  waiting  for  some 
order,  she  did  not  know  what. 

"  Forward !  "  said  the  Captain  to  Helen,  and  the 
two  girls  stepped  to  the  center. 

Regarding  Elise  with  a  long,  careful  glance,  and 
speaking  carefully,  so  the  little  French  girl  should 
miss  nothing  of  the  full  meaning  of  her  words,  the 
Cantain  asked: 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

<f  Do  you  know  what  your  honor  means?  " 

"  Yess,"  said  Elise,  finding  her  voice  after  what 
seemed  to  her  an  endless  time.  "  Yess,  it  does  mean 
that  always  I  shall  be  trusted  to  be  faithful  and 
true  and  honorable." 

"  Can  I  trust  you/'  asked  the  Captain,  "  on  your 
honor,  to  be  loyal  to  God  and  your  country,  to  help 
other  people  at  all  times,  and  to  obey  the  Scout 
Law?" 

Elise,  coached  by  Helen  and  Rosanna,  made  the 
half  salute  in  unison  with  the  whole  company,  as 
she  answered,  "  I  do  promise  on  my  honor  to  be 
loyal  to  God  and  my  country,  to  help  other  people 
at  all  times  and  to  obey  the  Scout  Law." 

"  I  trust  you  on  your  honor  to  keep  this  promise," 
answered  the  Captain. 

The  circle  of  girls  listened  with  respectful  and 
solemn  interest.  Well  they  realized  that  the  vow 
being  given  was  not  an  empty  or  idle  one.  They 
knew  that  it  entailed  hard  work,  self-denial,  and 
many  hardships.  Yet  they  gloried  in  it,  and 
silently  renewed  their  own  vows  as  they  heard  the 
Tenderfoot  make  her  promises. 

"  Invest !  "  came  the  Captain's  next  order. 

Stepping  forward,  the  Lieutenant  gave  Elise  her 
staff,  and  put  the  hat,  handkerchief  and  knot  on 
her,  and  smiled  as  Elise  said,  "  I  thank  you ! "  in 
her  pretty  way. 

Then,  at  a.  whispered  word,  she  marched  up  the 
line  to  the  Captain  who  pinned  on  her  trefoil  badge 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

and  explained  that  it  was  an  emblem  of  her  Scout 
"life."  If  for  any  misbehavior,  the  trefoil  or 
"  life  "  must  be  taken  away  from  her,  she  would 
become  a  dead  Scout  for  the  time  the  Captain  or- 
dered and  for  that  time  in  disgrace. 

The  new  Scout  was  then  initiated  into  all  the 
secret  passwords,  a  proceeding  which  filled  Elise 
with  despair;  she  felt  that  she  would  never  be  able 
to  remember  the  queer  words  and  phrases. 

Then  with  the  ceremony  of  marching  back  to 
their  proper  patrols  the  ceremony  was  over,  and  in 
a  moment  the  formal  meeting  was  dismissed. 

The  girls  crowded  around,  all  anxious  to  meet 
the  new  Tenderfoot  and  welcome  her.  They  talked 
to  her  so  hard  that  Elise  felt  her  head  whirl.  She 
was  glad  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  little  Captain 
suggesting  a  song.  She  handed  a  leaflet  to  Elise, 
but  the  girls  knew  the  songs,  and  gathering  in  a 
circle  they  wanted  to  know  which  one  to  sing. 

"  Sing  The  Long,  Long  Line"  suggested  the  Cap- 
tain, and  the  girls  sang: 

THE  LONG,  LONG  LINE 

(Tune:     The  Long,  Long  Trail) 

Recruiting  song. 

Do  you  feel  a  little  lonely? 

Are  your  friends  too  few? 

Would  you  like  to  join  some  jolly  girls 

In  the  things  you  think  and  do? 

Don't  you  know  your  Country's  waiting? 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

Have  you  heard  her  call? 

See,  the  Scouts  are  crowding1,  crowding  in, 

Where  there's  room  for  one  and  all ! 

CHORUS 

There's  a  long,  long  line  a-growing, 
From  north  to  south,  east  to  west, 
There's  a  place  awaiting  in  it,  too,  that  you'll  fill  best. 
We  are  sure  you'd  like  to  join  us 
If  you  knew  what  we  can  do 

And  we'd  like,  0  how  we'd  like  to  make  a  good  Girl  Scout  of 
you. 

It  certainly  sounded  sweet  as  the  fresh  young 
voices  blended,  and  Elise  thrilled  as  she  listened. 
She  was  having  such  a  good  time!  All  the  girls 
seemed  so  friendly  and  so  sweet,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  girl  who  hung  back  and  on  whose  face 
there  rested  the  shadow  of  discontent  and  dissat- 
isfaction. Elise  found  herself  wondering  about 
her ;  she  seemed  so  out  of  place  in  that  happy,  merry 
throng.  But  none  of  the  other  girls  appeared  to 
notice  that  one  of  their  number  sat  apart  and  oc- 
cupied herself  rather  ostentatiously  over  a  book. 

They  were  all  so  busy  making  the  evening  pass 
pleasantly  for  the  charming  new  Tenderfoot  who 
responded  so  prettily  to  their  advances  that  no  one 
spoke  or  looked  at  the  silent  Scout,  but  presently 
Elise  noticed  that  the  little  Captain  sat  down  beside 
her  and  compelled  her  attention.  Even  then  the 
girl  looked  as  though  she  preferred  to  be  let  alone. 

For  a  long  while,  the  girls  sat  and  told  Elise 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

about  their  work  and  play  and  the  camping  in  sum- 
mer and  the  delightful  hikes  all  the  year.  Finally 
it  came  time  to  go  home  and  some  one  called  for 
another  song. 

"  Which  shall  it  be,  Elise?  "  asked  Helen.  "  You 
choose  one  of  the  songs. " 

"  I  see  one  follows  the  air  of  the  Old  Colored 
Joe/'  said  Elise.  "  I  do  know  that  loving  song. 
Please  to  sing  that ;  and  if  I  may,  I  will  try  to  sing 
it  also." 

"  Of  course  we  will  sing  that,  you  dear,"  laughed 
the  tall  young  Lieutenant,  and  together  they  sang : 

WE'RE  COMING 

(Tune:    Old  Black  Joe) 

Camping  Song. 

I 

Come  where  the  lake  lies  gleaming  in  the  sun; 

Come  where  the  days  are  filled  with  work  and  fun. 

Come  where  the  moon  hangs  out  her  evening  lamp; 

The  Scouts  are  trooping,  trooping,  trooping  back  to  camp. 

CHORUS 

We're  coming!    We're  coming!     To  the  lakes,  the  hills,  the 

sea! 
Old  Mother  Nature  calls  her  children  —  you  and  me. 

II 

Come  where  we  learn  the  wisdom  of  the  wood; 
Come  where  we  prove  that  simple  things  are  good, 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Come  where  we  pledge  allegiance  to  our  land; 
America,  you've  called  your  daughters  —  here  we  stand. 

CHORUS 

We're  coming!    We're  coming!    'Til  we  spread  from  sea  to 

sea, 
Our  country  needs  us  —  wants  us  —  calls  us  —  you  and  me! 

"  That  is  so  most  lovely/'  said  Elise  as  the  song 
was  finished,  never  for  a  moment  realizing  that  her 
own  pure  and  bell-like  voice  had  added  richness  and 
beauty  to  the  song. 

The  other  girls  looked  at  each  other  and  smiled. 
Here  was  indeed  a  find.  Never  had  there  come  a 
Scout  to  the  council  with  such  a  wonderful  voice. 
They  felt  that  the  pretty  young  Tenderfoot  was  a 
great  acquisition  to  their  number.  So  they  all 
crowded  around  and  said  good  night, —  all  but  the 
silent  Scout  who  had  not  joined  in  the  jollity. 
Elise  and  Rosanna  and  Helen  filled  the  two  auto- 
mobiles that  were  waiting  for  them  with  the  girls. 
Never,  never  had  those  big  cars  been  so  crowded. 
Certainly  they  had  never  held  happier  passengers. 
But  there  was  no  noise  or  boisterousness,  no  sing- 
ing or  whistling.  The  girls  chatted  in  tones  that 
were  agreeably  low  and  as  each  one  reached  her 
destination,  she  thanked  Rosanna  or  Elise.  When 
the  last  passenger  in  the  Hargrave  car  had  been 
set  down,  Elise  leaned  back  in  a  corner  and  thought 
deeply.  She  was  happy  beyond  words. 

To  do  good  to  someone  every  day ;  that  was  part 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

of  her  pledge.  Such  an  easy  part!  But  it  was 
hard  not  to  be  good  when  everyone  was  so  good 
to  her.  Then  suddenly  she  thought  of  the  sulky 
face  of  the  girl  at  the  meeting. 

All  the  time  she  was  telling  Mrs.  Hargrave  about 
the  installation  and  the  songs,  and  trying  them 
over  for  her,  she  saw  the  dark,  discontented  face 
before  her.  She  could  not  feel  perfectly  happy 
because  somehow  the  face  seemed  to  send  her  a 
message.  "  Help  me ;  help  me !  "  Elise  heard  in 
her  soul.  But  what  could  she,  a  stranger,  a  girl 
who  could  scarcely  speak  the  new  language,  what 
could  she  do  for  that  girl?  And  besides,  why  did 
she  need  help?  Elise,  whose  bright  eyes  saw  every- 
thing, had  noted  the  beautiful  silk  stockings,  the 
texture  of  the  black  hair  ribbon,  and  at  the  last, 
the  expensive  fur  that  edged  her  coat.  Also  a  car 
had  come  for  her,  in  which  she  went  off  alone.  It 
was  not  poverty,  at  all  events,  decided  Elise.  She 
could  walk;  she  was  not  lame  like  the  poor  little 
blond  in  the  corner.  As  Elise  thought  it  over,  she 
puzzled  more  and  more.  She  decided  to  ask  Ko- 
sanna  or  Helen  next  day;  then  a  better  decision 
came  to  her.  She  would  find  out  for  herself.  No 
one  should  tell  her.  Then  if  she  made  any  mistake, 
why,  the  mistake  would  be  hers. 

But  the  next  day  but  one  the  plot  thickened. 
She  went  over  with  Kosanna  to  see  Miss  Hooker 
about  some  Scout  work,  and  as  they  stood  on  the 
steps  waiting  for  the  door  to  open,  it  did  open  with 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

a  jerk,  and  the  girl  Elise  had  been  worrying  about 
dashed  down  the  steps  and  into  her  limousine. 
Her  face  was  disfigured  with  tears. 

"  Dear  me !  "  said  Rosanna.  "  What  do  you  sup- 
pose has  happened  to  Lucy  Breen?  She  has  been 
crying." 

"  Assuredly.  The  petite  pauvre  one !  "  answered 
Elise  sadly. 

Rosanna  with  her  usual  directness  asked  Miss 
Hooker  the  moment  they  entered  what  was  the  mat- 
ter with  Lucy. 

Miss  Hooker  hesitated.  "  You  really  ought  not 
ask  a  question  like  that,  Rosanna,"  she  said  finally, 
"  but  perhaps  I  ought  to  tell  you.  You  will  all 
have  to  know." 

"Please  don't  tell  me,  Miss  Hooker,"  Rosanna 
begged  with  a  deep  flush.  "  I  thought  perhaps 
someone  had  died  or  something  like  that." 

"  No,  but  for  a  week  Lucy  must  be  a  dead  Scout 
herself." 

"How  awful!"  cried  both  girls,  and  then  were 
silent. 

"  I  prefer  not  to  tell  you  why  just  now,  but  of 
course  this  will  not  make  you  shun  her.  You  must 
show  all  the  kindness  and  consideration  that  you 
can  for  her,  and  be  with  her  all  you  can."  More 
than  that  Miss  Hooker  did  not  seem  to  want  to 
say,  and  the  girls,  saddened  and  quiet,  finished  their 
errand  and  left. 

A  day  or  two  later,  going  with  Mrs.  Hargrave 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

to  the  Red  Cross  rooms  down  town,  Elise  thought 
she  saw  Lucy  Breen  shrink  out  of  sight  behind  some 
portieres  at  the  back  of  the  store  that  the  Red  Cross 
used  as  a  sales  room. 

Elise  acted  on  a  generous  impulse.  She  went 
back  through  the  store  looking  at  one  thing  and 
another  until  she  in  turn  came  to  the  portieres. 
Behind  them  was  a  space  used  for  a  sort  of  store- 
room for  articles  brought  into  the  shop,  and  as 
Elise  looked  curiously  through  the  curtains  as 
though  wondering  what  lay  beyond,  she  saw  Lucy 
standing  in  a  corner,  crowded  against  the  wall. 
Elise  nodded  gaily. 

"Are  you  what  they  call  making  the  sort  of 
things  in  here,  Lucy?  "  she  cried.  "  Is  it  not  fun 
to  see  what  the  good  kind  people  give  away?  " 

She  stepped  into  the  store-room  as  she  spoke, 
smiling  and  nodding.  "  Yes,  it  is  droll,  some  of  the 
things,"  she  chattered  on,  as  though  Lucy  was  do- 
ing her  share  in  the  conversation.  Finally,  how- 
ever, like  a  little  clock,  Elise  ran  down.  She  could 
not  think  of  a  single  thing  to  say  further,  and 
she  trailed  off,  looking  shyly  into  Lucy's  dark 
face. 

Lucy  was  smiling  a  set  and  bitter  smile. 

"  Don't  you  think  you  had  better  get  out  of  this 
and  leave  me?"  she  asked.  "Perhaps  you  don't 
know  that  I  have  lost  my  badge.  I  shall  be  a  dead 
Scout  for  a  week,  and  I  don't  care  in  the  least 
whether  I  ever  wear  it  again  or  not." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Elise  came  close  and  laid  a  hand  on  Lucy's  shoul- 
der, but  the  girl  shook  it  off. 

"Don't!"  she  said  pettishly. 

"  I  knew  that  you  had  resigned  your  badge  for 
the  so  small  time  of  a  week/'  said  Elise  gently, 
"  but  one  week  soon  passes." 

"  Do  you  know  why  I  lost  it? "  asked  Lucy 
harshly. 

"  No,"  said  Elise,  "  and  I  do  not  so  much  care. 
That  is  for  you  to  know,  and  our  dear  Captain.  I 
am  just  so  so  sorry  that  you  are  unhappy.  But 
you  will  be  happy  again.  Always  unhappiness  goes 
away.  We  do  not  forget,  but  it  ceases  to  wound. 
And  if  the  fault  makes  you  so  unhappy,  why,  cer- 
tainly you  will  never,  never  so  do  again ;  will  you, 
dear  Lucy?" 

To  her  surprise  and  dismay,  Lucy  turned  and, 
hiding  her  face  in  her  arms,  leaned  against  the 
cracked  old  wall  and  sobbed. 

"  Oh,  I  am  unhappy ! "  she  cried.  "  I  am  un- 
happy, and  I  don't  know  what  to  do!  Sometimes 
I  think  I  will  run  away !  " 

"  Oh,  don't  do  that ;  don't  do  that !  "  cried  Elise. 
"  Think  of  your  dear  mama  and  your  father.  Oh, 
you  could  never  have  a  fault  that  would  make  you 
need  to  do  anything  that  would  make  them  so  un- 
happy !  " 

Lucy  laughed  her  bitter  little  laugh. 

"  I  think  I  will  tell  you  what  has  happened," 
she  said,  "  and  then  you  can  see  just  how  I  feel.'' 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Can  you  not  tell  to  someone  more  wise  than 
I?"  asked  Elise,  her  dismay  growing.  "  I  will  be 
so  glad  to  listen,  but  for  advice,  I  am  so  ignorant, 
so  what  you  call  it?  I  speak  your  English  so 
poorly,  that  maybe  I  say  to  you  the  wrong  thing." 

"  You  needn't  say  anything,"  said  Lucy.  "  You 
were  so  good  to  come  and  speak  to  me,  and  I  want 
to  talk  to  someone.  I  had  advice  from  Miss  Hooker 
but  I  shall  not  take  it." 

"  Was  it  not  good  advice? "  asked  Elise,  who 
thought  every  word  that  Miss  Hooker  uttered  was 
a  pearl  of  wisdom. 

"  I  suppose  so,"  said  Lucy  with  a  sneer,  "  but 
she  does  not  understand.  Oh,  Elise,  I  shall  die, 
I  am  so  unhappy." 

"  No,"  said  Elise  softly,  "  you  will  not  die  so. 
If  it  could  be,  I  would  be  dead  long  since  but  I 
am  not,  and  I  am  happy  —  so  very,  very  happy 
just  as  my  most  dear  ones  who  are  dead  would 
wish  me  to  be.  So  it  will  be  with  you." 

"  I  want  to  talk  to  you,"  said  Lucy. 

"  Let  us  sit  here  then,"  said  Elise,  "  where  no 
one  comes.  There  is  a  what  you  call  '  meeting ' 
which  my  maman  is  here  to  attend.  It  goes  on 
in  the  upstairs,  and  she  told  me  it  would  meet 
for  an  hour  or  two.  Tell  me  all  your  woe." 

She  pulled  Lucy  down  on  a  pile  of  velvet  cur- 
tains and  patting  her  hot  little  hand,  said  softly, 
"  I  wait." 


CHAPTER  X 

»<WHEN  I  was  only  two  years  old,  my  real 
mamma  died,"  Lucy  commenced,  "  and  papa's  sis- 
ter, who  was  a  great  deal  older  than  papa,  came  to 
take  care  of  as.  I  had  a  brother  five  years  older 
than  I.  Aunt  Mabel  was  so  kind  to  us,  and  let  us 
do  just  as  we  pleased  about  everything.  I  don't 
see  why  things  could  not  have  gone  on  like  that 
always,  because  as  soon  as  I  grew  up  I  intended 
to  take  charge  of  the  house  and  run  it  for  papa. 
I  am  thirteen  now  so  it  wouldn't  have  been  long 
before  I  could  have  done  it.  But  when  I  was  ten 
years  old,  my  brother  died,  and  after  that,  papa 
stayed  away  from  the  house  all  he  could,  although 
Auntie  Mabel  was  always  talking  to  him  about  his 
duty  to  me. 

"Well,  one  day,  when  I  was  eleven  years  old, 
papa  came  home,  and  the  very  minute  I  saw  his 
face  I  knew  something  had  happened. 

" '  Goodness,  papa,'  I  said,  <  you  look  as  though 
you  had  had  good  news ! '  '  I  have,  my  dear,'  he 
said,  and  then  somehow  as  I  looked  at  him  I  had 
such  a  funny  feeling.  All  at  once  I  didn't  want 
to  know  what  made  him  look  so  glad.  So  I  just 
sat  there  and  said  nothing. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

" '  Don't  you  want  to  know  what  it  is?  '  he  said, 
and  I  said,  '  I  don't  know  whether  I  do  or  not.' 

"  Papa  came  over  and  put  his  head  down  on  ray 
shoulder  the  way  he  used  to  when  he  called  me  his 
little  comforter,  and  said,  <  Oh,  yes,  Lucy,  you  want 
to  know !  Please  say  you  want  to  know  what  your 
daddy  has  to  tell  you/ 

"  So  I  said,  '  All  right/  and  Elise,  he  was  going 
to  get  married !  Oh,  I  just  hated  it !  He  told  me 
lots  about  the  lady.  She  was  from  Boston,  and 
that  was  why  I  had  never  seen  her,  and  had  never 
heard  about  it.  She  had  never  been  in  Louisville. 
He  said  she  was  beautiful,  and  she  did  look  nice 
in  the  picture  he  had  in  his  pocket  case,  and  he 
said  she  was  just  as  lovely  as  she  could  be.  I  just 
sat  there  and  let  him  talk,  and  finally  he  said, 
'Well,  chicken,  what  do  you  think  about  it?'  I 
don't  know  what  made  me  say  what  I  did.  Some- 
how it  popped  out  before  I  thought.  I  said,  '  Are 
you  sure  she  isn't  marrying  you  for  your  money?  ' 

"  And  papa  sort  of  stiffened  up  and  looked  hard 
at  me,  and  finally  he  said  in  a  queer  voice,  '  Good 
Lord,  how  old  are  you?  '  I  said,  '  I  am  eleven,'  and 
he  said,  *  Well,  you  sound  like  Mrs.  Worldly  Wise- 
man, aged  fifty.  I  suppose  you  will  feel  better 
if  I  say  that  the  lady  has  more  money  than  I  have, 
and  that  I  will  be  lucky  if  people  do  not  claim  that 
7  have  been  the  fortune  hunter.' 

" '  Well,  what  is  she  going  to  marry  you  for? ' 
I  asked.  '  She  says  she  loves  me,'  papa  said.  I 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

said,  'We  don't  want  her  here!  We  are  getting 
along  all  right/  Oh,  I  didn't  mean  to  be  so  ugly, 
but  somehow  I  hated  to  have  papa  marry  anyone, 
and  I  didn't  know  this  lady.  So  papa  went  off 
awfully  cross  at  me  and  the  next  person  was  Auntie 
Mabel.  Papa  had  told  me  first;  he  thought  he 
ought  to,  and  then  he  went  up  and  told  Aunt  Mabel. 
She  came  down  pretty  soon.  I  was  right  there  in 
the  big  chair,  trying  to  imagine  what  it  would  be 
like  to  have  a  stranger  in  the  house. 

"  Auntie  said,  '  Well,  Lucy,  what  do  you  think 
of  the  news?  '  I  said,  *  It  is  nothing  to  us ;  we  can 
keep  in  our  rooms  most  of  the  time/ 

"  ( I  can't,'  said  Aunt  Mabel,  '  because  I  shall 
leave  when  she  comes.  Not  that  I  have  the  slight- 
est objection,  but  all  the  same  off  I  go.  I  knew  it 
would  happen  sooner  or  later,  but  Henry  waited  so 
long  that  I  hoped  he  was  going  to  let  well  enough 
alone.  But  men  are  all  alike ! '  And  she  did  go, 
Elise,  the  very  day  before  papa  brought  the  lady 
home.  And  I  couldn't  go  because  there  was  no 
place  for  me  to  go  and  Auntie  wouldn't  take  me 
with  her  because  she  said  it  would  make  papa 
angry.  So  I  had  to  stay  whether  I  wanted  to  or 
not.  It  was  perfectly  awful !" 

"  Poor,  poor  Lucee !  "  murmured  Elise,  patting 
the  hand  she  held. 

"  I  was  expecting  to  see  a  lady  'most  as  old  as 
Auntie,  and  papa  came  up  the  steps  with  somebody 
young.  Why,  she  was  awfully  young,  and  had  as 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

much  powder  on  her  nose  as  anybody.  I  was  loot 
ing  through  the  curtains,  and  when  I  saw  them 
coming,  I  ran  upstairs  and  hid.  Papa  hunted  and 
called,  but  I  wouldn't  answer,  and  I  heard  him 
getting  angry,  and  then  she  said,  '  Don't  mind, 
Henry;  it  is  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world. 
Let  me  find  her,  I  know  just  where  to  look/  and 
papa  said  in  the  silliest  way,  '  Go  ahead,  darling, 
the  house  is  yours,  and  the  child  too  if  you  will  have 
such  a  bad  one.' 

"  Well,  Elise,  she  came  up  those  stairs  and 
straight  to  the  table  I  was  under,  as  though  some- 
one had  told  her!  The  cover  went  down  to  the 
floor,  and  she  lifted  it  up,  and  said  '  Coop ! '  but 
I  came  out  crosser  than  ever,  and  we  had  a  horrid 
time. 

"  So  that  is  the  way  it  went.  Worse  and  worse 
all  the  time.  Papa  was  not  cross  with  me  because 
she  wouldn't  let  him  be,  and  I  felt  pretty  mean 
to  think  a  stranger  had  to  tell  my  own  father  how 
to  treat  me.  At  first  she  tried  to  act  so  sweet  to 
me,  and  used  to  want  to  play  with  me.  I  told  her 
I  thought  it  was  silly,  but  she  said  she  had  lots 
of  brothers  and  sisters,  and  they  always  romped 
around  together  and  had  a  fine  time,  and  she  said 
if  I  would  only  be  friends  we  could  have  such  larks. 
I  told  her  I  hoped  I  was  polite  and  all  she  said 
was  to  wonder  where  I  got  my  disposition. 

"  At  first  they  used  to  make  me  stay  down  with 
them  at  night  after  dinner,  but  by  and  by  I  was 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

allowed  to  go  upstairs.  I  said  I  wanted  to  study. 
I  always  kept  a  study  book  open  on  the  table,  and 
would  go  to  reading  it  as  soon  as  they  came  up. 
Papa  used  to  come  in  once  in  awhile,  and  she 
was  always  asking  me  if  she  could  help  me  with 
my  lessons.  She  said  she  used  to  help  her 
brothers. 

"  After  a  year,  one  of  the  brothers  came  to  visit. 
He  was  a  real  nice  boy,  and  I  would  have  liked 
him  only  he  wras  so  silly  about  her;  used  to  want 
to  be  with  her  all  the  time,  and  put  his  arm  around 
her  and  all  that !  We  had  a  real  good  time  though, 
and  I  thought  that  I  had  been  real  nice  to  her 
before  him  until  the  day  he  went  home.  I  was  in 
the  library,  and  he  came  in.  I  was  just  going  to 
ask  him  to  put  his  autograph  in  my  album  when 
he  said :  '  Gee,  you  are  a  disagreeable  little  mutt ! 
My  sister  would  half  kill  me  for  saying  it,  but  hon- 
est, I  don't  see  how  she  stands  you ! ' 

"  Of  course  I  just  walked  out  of  the  room.  I 
knew  then  that  she  had  been  telling  things  about 
me.  And  I  knew  that  must  be  the  reason  why 
papa  was  so  different  to  me." 

"  But  was  he?  "  asked  Elise  wonderingly. 

"  Yes,  he  was,  and  Miss  Hooker  says  it  is  all  my 
fault.  I  had  been  coldly  polite  to  her  for  a  good 
while  before  that.  I  read  about  a  girl  who  was 
abused  by  a  stepmother  and  the  girl  was  too  noble 
to  abuse  her  in  return.  She  was  just  *  coldly 
polite,'  the  book  said,  and  so  was  I.  But  after  that 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

horrid  boy  went  home  I  let  myself  be  as  mean  as  I 
could." 

Elise  nodded.     "  I  saw  it  in  your  face,"  she  said. 

"And  the  more  I  thought  of  it,  the  more  I  was 
able  to  act  ugly.  It  is  so  funny,  Elise,  the  way  she 
makes  everybody  like  her.  Papa  just  gets  worse  all 
the  time,  and  the  servants  adore  her,  and  she  is  so 
popular  with  all  the  people  who  come  to  the  house. 
She  makes  them  all  like  her  —  all  but  me." 

"  We  will  talk  about  that  later,"  said  Elise. 

Lucy  sighed  "  Well,  things  have  been  getting 
worse  and  worse,  but  I  think  we  have  both  tried 
to  keep  it  from  papa.  We  hate  each  other,  but  we 
don't  want  him  to  know  how  bad  things  are  in  the 
house.  Papa  is  not  happy,  though.  Oh,  he  has 
talked  and  talked  to  me  and  threatened  to  send  me 
to  school,  and  I  always  tell  him  I  wish  he  would. 
But  the  other  day  the  worst  happened.  Papa  had 
gone  to  the  office,  and  I  was  reading  in  the  library, 
and  she  was  walking  around  and  around,  fussing 
and  singing  under  her  breath  and  sort  of  acting 
happy.  It  made  me  so  mad.  Presently  she  saw  me 
looking  at  her,  and  she  said,  *  Don't  you  wonder 
why  I  am  singing? '  and  I  said,  '  No,  I  had  not  no- 
ticed.' She  went  right  on :  i  I  have  had  some  good 
news,  wonderful  news,  and  I  wonder  if  you  would 
like  to  hear  it,  Lucy?  ' 

"  I  said,  '  I  am  not  at  all  interested/  and  went 
right  on  looking  at  my  book.  She  came  over  and 
leaned  down  on  the  table  close  to  my  face,  and 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

stared  and  stared  at  me.  She  said,  'Look  at  me, 
you  bad,  difficult,  cruel  child,  look  at  me  and  tell 
me  why  you  are  bound  to  hate  me  so ! '  I  never 
saw  anyone  look  so  angry.  Then  her  face  changed 
and  got  pleasant  again,  and  she  said,  ( What  have 
I  done?  Your  own  mother,  if  she  can  see  this 
house  and  its  unhappy  inmates,  knows  that  I  have 
tried  to  make  friends  with  you.' 

"  I  remembered  how  furious  the  girl  in  the  book 
was  when  her  stepmother  spoke  of  her  mother,  and 
I  raised  my  hand  and  slapped  her." 

"  Oh,  oh,  oh !  "  cried  Elise,  covering  her  eyes. 
"  The  poor,  poor  lady !  " 

Lucy  went  doggedly  on. 

"  Of  course  I  had  no-  business  to  do  that.  She 
went  to  her  room,  and  stayed  there  all  day,  and 
when  papa  came  home  he  went  right  up.  I  was 
on  my  way  to  my  room,  and  I  heard  him  say,  '  I 
don't  believe  it  is  a  headache  at  all.  I  think  Lucy 
must  have  been  annoying  you/  and  she  said,  '  No,' 
and  papa  said,  '  I  shall  send  that  child  away  to 
school.'  And  she  said,  '  No,  give  us  one  more 
chance.  I  am  going  to  see  Miss  Hooker,  her  Scout 
Captain,  and  see  if  her  influence  is  strong  enough 
to  make  Lucy  see  things  in  the  right  way.'  As 
soon  as  I  heard  that  I  made  up  my  mind  to  see  the 
Captain  first,  so  I  went  over  and  that  was  the  day 
I  saw  you  on  the  steps.  We  had  had  a  long,  long 
talk  and  she  said  I  was  all  wrong  and  took  away 
my  trefoil.  So  here  I  am  a  dead  Scout,  and  I  am 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

so  unhappy  that  I  don't  know  what  to  do  and  I 
am  going  to  run  away.  I  want  you  to  have  my 
pony.  I  am  going  to  send  it  over  to  your  house 
tomorrow." 

"  No,  no,  no !  "  cried  Elise.  "  Everything  is 
wrong;  so  wrong!  Oh,  let  me  think!  That  poor, 
poor  lady !  I  am  so,  so  sorry  for  her." 

"  Sorry  for  her! "  cried  Lucy.  "  There  is  no 
need  to  be  sorry  for  her!  I  am  the  one  to  be  sorry 
for.  She  has  everything." 

"Why  has  she?"  asked  Elise.  "  She  has  noth- 
ing that  you  have  not.  She  has  your  most  dear 
papa;  so  have  you.  You  both  have  a  most  lovely 
home,  everything  beautiful,  friends,  comfort.  You 
are  safe  in  a  great  land,  where  no  enemy  may  come 
and  keel  all  you  love.  You  have  both  the  same 
things.  You  share  them."  She  sat  thinking. 
"  Yes,  she  is  the  one  to  be  sorry  for,  because  she  is 
so  disappoint.  When  she  go  to  marry  your  pere, 
she  have  something  promised  that  she  never  gets 
and  so  she  is  full  of  mournsomeness." 

"  She  has  everything  papa  can  get  for  her,"  said 
Lucy  bitterly.  "  I  wish  you  could  see  the  pearls 
he  gave  her  the  other  day." 

"  Pearls !  "  said  Elise  scornfully.  "  What  are 
pearls?  He  promised  her  something  only  you  could 
give  her,  and  now  she  has  it  not,  and  she  is  sad, 
and  you  are  sad;  everybody  sad.  What  do  you 
call  her?  " 

"  I  don't  call  her  anything,"  said  Lucy  stub- 


;THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

bornly.  "  I  wait  until  she  looks  at  ine  and  then 
I  say  what  I  want  to  say." 

"  Foolish,  foolish  one,"  said  Elise.  "  That  is 
what  no  one  likes.  Besides,  it  is  what  you  call 
rude  not  to  speak  the  name.  Most  rude !  "  She 
saw  a  frown  deepen  on  Lucy's  brow  and  gently 
pressed  her  hand. 

"  You  wanted  to  tell  me,  did  you  not?  "  she  said 
softly.  "  Now  I  want  to  tell  you  what  I  have  not 
so  many  times  told  because  I  cannot  speak  of  it 
unless  my  heart  feels  like  it  does  bleed.  I  have 
had  such  sorrows,  and  have  seen  such  dreadfulness ; 
I  have  been  so  cold,  and  hongry,  and  frightened. 
I  have  lived  in  the  wet  underground  for  so  long 
time  that  all  this  makes  a  differentness  in  me  from 
you.  Something  in  me  feels  most  old  and  weary. 
I  keep  it  shut  up  because  my  darling  Maman  Har- 
grave  wants  me  a  happy  child,  and  I  want  it  for 
myself,  but  I  do  feel  the  oldness  when  I  see  others 
unhappy  when  they  could  so  easily  be  full  of  joy. 
No,  let  me  talk !  "  she  added,  as  Lucy  tried  to  speak. 

"  I  must  say  this,  I  feel  it  on  me,  to  save  that 
poor  lady  her  happiness.  I  shall  be  sorry  for  you 
some  other  day,  but  now  I  am  most  sad  for  her. 
When  she  marry  your  papa,  she  think  all  the  time 
that  she  is  going  to  have  a  most  sweet  daughter 
because  that  is  how  your  dear  papa  would  tell  her 
of  you,  and  then  what  happens?  You  know. 

"  Oh,  Lucee,  dear,  dear  Lucee,  there  is  one  thing 
you  must  give  to  her,  right  now  today  quick  r 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"What  is  that?"  said  Lucy,  startled  by  Elise's 
vehemence. 

"LOVE!"  cried  Elise,  her  sweet  voice  thrilling. 
"  Love !  So  easy,  so  sweet !  Please,  my  Lucee, 
do  not  turn  away.  I  know  I  am  right  on  account 
of  the  oldness  in  my  heart.  That  tells  me.  Think 
how  most  glad  your  own  mother  is  to  have  the 
pretty  one  taking  such  good  care  of  your  papa  and 
of  you.  Does  she  select  your  clothes?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Lucy. 

"  They  are  always  the  prettiest,"  said  Elise. 
"  No  other  girl  is  so  chic  —  what  you  call  stunning. 
And  so  modest,  so  quiet.  And  you  yourself  say 
everyone  but  you  loves  her.  You  too  must  love 
her,  and  the  best  of  all.  You  must!  You  are  a 
Scout,  and  so  you  do  always  the  right  thing. 
Where  is  she  now?" 

"  Home,  I  suppose.  I  came  down  to  bring  some 
of  my  last  winter's  dresses.  Oh,  Elise,  even  if  I 
could,  it  is  too  late.  I  can't  go  back  to  the  be- 
ginning again  and  start  over." 

"  Of  course  not,"  said  Elise  wisely.  "  It  is  a 
most  bad  waste  of  time  when  we  try  going  back  &> 
beginnings.  It  is  better  to  start  right  from  here. 
Anywhere  is  the  best  place  to  start.  When  you 
go  home  you  start  then !  You  start  here  by  making 
some  new  sweet  thoughts  in  your  heart.  Dear 
Lucee,  please  try!  Please,  for  the  sake  of  your 
Elise  who  also  has  to  try  to  be  always  happy  and 
not  remember  those  blackness  behind  her.  Won't 


THE  GIRL  SCOUYS  RALLY 

you,  please?    I  know  I  am  right.     Will  you  try 
to  give  her  love?" 

Lucy,  the  tears  pouring  down  her  cheeks,  leaned 
her  head  against  the  shoulder  near  her. 

"  I  don't  see  how  I  can,"  she  said  huskily.  "  But 
I  will  try.  I  am  so  sick  of  everything  the  way  it 
is." 

"  Of  course  you  are !  "  said  Elise.  "  One  is  al- 
ways seek  of  wrong.  It  makes  a  blackness  over 
everything." 

"  What  will  I  do?    How  will  I  begin?  " 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,"  said  Elise.  "  You  will  know 
what  to  do.  Something  will  tell  you.  Something 
always  tells.  I  think  it  is  le  bon  Dieu.  Just  trust 
and  you  will  know  what  to  do  and  to  say.  Come, 
let  us  go.  I  hear  the  meeting  talking  itself  down 
the  stairs.  Is  your  car  waiting?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Lucy  dully  as  she  allowed  Elise  to 
lead  her  through  the  store.  "  Oh,  Elise,  I  don't 
love  her,  and  I  don't  know  what  to  do !  " 

"  It  is  because  of  the  hatefulness  you  put  in  your 
heart  long  ago  that  you  do  not  love  her,"  said  the 
wise,  sad  little  girl  who  had  suffered  beyond  her 
years.  She  stood  at  the  door  of  the  limousine  and 
smiled  at  the  little  girl  who  sank  back  so  wearily. 

"  Don't  forget  it  is  now  we  make  those  begin- 
nings. And  you  owe  her  what  your  dear  papa 
promised  her,  your  love."  She  stepped  back  with 
a  wave  of  her  hand  as  the  machine  started  away. 

Lucy's    heart    throbbed    violently    as    she    ap- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

preached  her  home.  Her  one  hope  was  that  Mrs. 
Breen  was  out,  so  the  moment  might  be  delayed. 
But  as  she  passed  the  door  of  the  library  she  saw 
Mrs.  Breen  lying  in  a  low  lounging  chair.  How 
pale  she  looked!  Lucy  was  quite  startled  to  see 
the  look  of  suffering  and  weakness  on  the  beautiful 
young  face.  She  had  been  too  blind  to  notice  what 
had  been  worrying  her  father  of  late.  Was  it  her 
fault?  Had  her  actions  brought  her  self-made 
enemy  so  low?  Lucy  was  shocked. 

She  went  up  and  put  away  her  wraps.  Still  she 
did  not  know  what  to  do  or  what  to  say.  Twice 
she  passed  the  library  door.  No  thought  came  to 
her.  She  went  in,  not  speaking,  and  selected  a  book 
at  random  from  the  nearest  shelf.  Mrs.  Breen  did 
not  speak  but  her  great  blue  eyes  seemed  to  follow 
Lucy  appealingly.  Then  Lucy  found  her  courage. 
What  she  said  was  rough  and  crude  but  it  came 
from  the  heart  —  an  honest  statement  and  ap- 
peal for  tolerance  and  understanding.  She  came, 
clutching  her  book,  and  stood  facing  Mrs.  Breen. 

Her  voice  sounded  so  husky  and  shaken  that 
she  did  not  know  it  for  hers. 

"  Mamma,"  she  said,  stumbling  over  the  un- 
familiar word.  "  Mamma,  you  know  I  do  not  like 
jou,  but  I  am  going  to  try  to  love  you !  " 

And  then,  clasping  her  book  with  both  hands, 


CHAPTEE  XI 

YEARS  had  passed  before  Mrs.  Breen  and  Lucy 
ever  found  the  courage  to  speak  of  that  day  when 
Lucy  had  hurried  from  the  room,  leaving  Mrs. 
Breen  too  surprised  to  follow  her,  or  even  speak. 
She  sat  thinking,  so  glad  and  so  happy  and  so  proud 
of  the  courage  shown  by  Lucy.  She  heard  the  front 
door  close  softly  and  was  not  surprised,  a  little 
later,  to  have  one  of  the  maids  come  and  tell  her 
that  Miss  Lucy  had  telephoned  that  she  was  at 
Mrs.  Hargrave's,  and  would  stay  for  supper  with 
Elise. 

Mrs.  Breen  sat  thinking  for  an  hour,  then  the 
right  thought  came  to  her.  She  hastened  to  the 
telephone  and  had  a  long  talk  with  her  husband, 
and  after  a  good  deal  of  argument,  she  went  to 
her  room,  packed  a  small  trunk,  ordered  the  car, 
had  a  talk  with  the  housekeeper,  and  went  out. 
She  drove  to  her  husband's  office,  and  he  ushered 
her  into  his  private  room. 

"  Now  what  is  all  this?  "  he  demanded. 

"  I  told  you  over  the  telephone  what  happened 
in  the  library,"  Mrs.  Breen  said.  "  My  dear,  I 
am  so  happy  and  so  proud  of  Lucy!  But  there 
will  be  the  most  distressing  awkwardness  for  a 
little,  unless  something  out  of  the  ordinary  happens 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

to  help  her  out.  Now  I  have  never  been  away  with- 
out you  since  we  were  married.  So  I  have  de- 
cided to  give  the  child  a  chance  to  regain  her  poise 
and  strengthen  her  new  resolutions.  Something 
has  changed  her,  and  I  am  contented  to  accept 
it  without  question  until  the  times  comes  when 
she  will  tell  me  of  her  own  accord.  I  will  go  home 
for  a  week,  and  you  must  spend  all  the  time  you 
can  with  Lucy.  And  when  you  feel  like  it,  speak 
well  of  me." 

"That  will  be  a  hard  job,"  said  her  husband, 
smiling. 

"I  suppose  so/'  said  Mrs.  Breen.  "Another 
thing,  to  keep  her  interest  in  me,  if  you  should  de- 
cide to  repaper  my  room  and  want  to  surprise  me, 
I  would  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  Lucy's  taste." 

So  when  Lucy  came  in  that  night,  dreading  the 
next  step  toward  the  right,  she  found  only  her 
father  reading  under  the  library  light. 

"Hello,  Donna  Lucia,"  he  said,  looking  up. 
"  Did  you  know  that  we  are  orphans?  " 

"  No,"  said  Lucy.     "  What  has  happened?  " 

"  Mamma  decided  very  suddenly  that  she  had  to 
go  home  to  Boston  to  attend  to  some  matters,  and 
she  did  not  have  time  to  telephone  you  or  call 
around  at  Mrs.  Hargrave's.  But  she  managed  to 
stop  in  at  the  office,  and  she  has  left  me  in  your 
charge." 

Lucy  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief.  Thank  goodness, 
she  would  have  a  little  time  to  herself  anyway. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

A  couple  of  days  later  Mr.  Breen  approached 
the  subject  of  the  new  wall-paper.  He  merely  ap- 
proached it,  because  at  the  first  mention  Lucy 
fairly  flung  herself  on  it  and  appropriated  it.  The 
very  thing,  she  decided.  She  thought  that  room 
was  about  as  shabby  as  it  could  be.  Could  she 
select  the  paper?  Of  course  she  could !  She  knew 
exactly  what  mamma  would  like. 

At  her  use  of  the  word  mamma,  Mr.  Breen's 
heart  leaped.  He  had  been  a  patient,  but  very  un- 
happy man,  and  the  thought  that  his  little  house- 
hold might  become  united  was  the  greatest  happi- 
ness he  could  imagine.  So  he  grumbled  out  that 
he  was  glad  of  that,  because  he  never  could  tell 
the  least  thing  about  the  silly  strips  of  paper  they 
showed  in  the  stores,  and  Lucy  could  go  ahead  and 
get  whatever  she  wanted. 

But  the  following  morning,  when  a  van  backed 
up  to  the  door  and  a  couple  of  men  commenced  to 
take  away  all  the  prettiest  wicker  furniture  in  the 
house  he  demanded  some  explanation. 

"  Why,  they  have  to  be  painted  for  mamma's  new 
room,"  said  the  practical  Miss  Breen.  "  You  said 
I  could  go  ahead,  and  I  have  gone !  " 

"  All  our  furniture  has  gone  too,  I  should  say," 
said  Mr.  Breen. 

"  Just  the  best  of  the  wicker,"  answered  Lucy. 
"  I  thought  and  thought  all  last  night,  and  I  have 
decided  just  what  would  be  the  loveliest  thing  in 
the  world  for  her,  with  her  violet  blue  eyes  and 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

golden  hair.  So  when  you  were  shaving  I  tele- 
phoned for  the  men  to  come  and  take  the  chairs 
and  tables  and  that  chaise-longue  and  they  are  all 
going  to  be  painted. 

"  And  today  you  had  better  write  her  that  you 
think  it  would  be  a  good  thing,  as  long  as  she  is 
there,  to  stay  another  week.  Don't  let  her  suspect, 
but  don't  let  her  come  home." 

"  Very  well/'  said  Mr.  Breen  with  a  twinkle  in 
his  eye,  but  outwardly  very  meek.  "  Just  as  you 
say.  Send  the  bills  to  me." 

"  Oh,  I  was  going  to,"  said  Lucy  with  the  happiest 
laugh  he  had  heard  from  her  for  months. 

Mr.  Breen  did  not  come  home  for  luncheon,  and 
every  day  Lucy  managed  to  have  Elise  or  Rosanna 
or  Helen  take  that  meal  with  her. 

Lucy  worked  like  mad  and  nearly  wore  the  work- 
men out,  she  hurried  them  so.  Mrs.  Breen  decided 
to  make  a  longer  stay,  but  even  then  there  was  but 
little  time,  because  Lucy  fyad  decided  that  all  the 
woodwork  must  be  re-enameled.  When  that  was 
done  and  the  paper  on,  she  cast  aside  the  old  rug 
with  scorn,  and  took  the  three  girls  downtown  to 
buy  others.  As  the  days  went  on,  Lucy  found  that 
her  point  of  view  was  wholly  changed.  She  was 
so  intent  on  the  beautiful  surprise  she  was  planning 
that  it  seemed  to  sweep  her  mind  clean  of  all  the 
dark  and  unworthy  feelings  that  had  filled  it.  She 
even  wrote  to  Mrs.  Breen.  at  a  suggestion  from 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

Elise,  a  pleasant  friendly  letter,  ending,  "With 
love,  Lucy." 

And  to  her  surprise  Mrs.  Breen  answered  the  let- 
ter at  once,  with  a  long  one  all  about  her  visit,  and 
enclosing  funny  little  cartoons  of  each  one  of  the 
family,  including  the  boy  who  had  spoken  his  mind 
to  Lucy.  Strange  to  say,  Lucy  was  able  to  ac- 
knowledge the  truth  of  the  young  man's  remark. 

"  Some  day/'  said  Lucy  to  herself,  "  if  this  turns 
out  all  right,  I  will  tell  him  that  he  was  perfectly 
right." 

Lucy  was  coming  to  think,  with  a  sense  of  deep 
chagrin,  that  she  herself  had  been  the  one  in  the 
wrong.  And  being  an  honest  girl  and  wanting  very 
humbly  and  deeply  to  live  up  to  the  pledge  of  the 
Girl  Scouts,  she  was  growing  most  anxious  to  make 
good  her  faults. 

So  she  drove  the  painters  and  paperhangers  and 
upholsterers  almost  wild,  and  had  the  happiness 
of  seeing  the  beautiful  room  all  settled  and  in  or- 
der two  days  before  Mrs.  Breen  was  expected.  It 
had  a  hard  time  staying  settled  however,  because 
Lucy  spent  all  her  time  after  school  trying  things 
in  new  places  to  see  if  they  looked  any  better.  Her 
father  vowed  that  he  would  go  up  and  nail  the 
things  down,  but  he  was  just  as  proud  and  pleased 
as  Lucy. 

With  all  the  planning  and  plotting,  and  various 
jaunts  to  the  shops  together,  and  to  some  movies 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

and  once  to  the  theatre,  Lucy  and  her  father  had 
entered  a  new  epoch  in  their  lives.  They  too 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  the  past. 

As  Elise  said,  they  found  that  they  could  make 
a  beginning  anywhere.  And  once  begun,  they 
found  that  it  was  like  a  door  that  had  opened  into 
a  beautiful  place  full  of  happiness  and  sunshine 
—  a  door  that  closed  softly  behind  them  and  shut 
out  all  the  despair  and  gloom  on  the  other  side. 

When  the  day  came  for  Mrs.  Breen's  return,  Mr. 
Breen  insisted  on  Lucy  coming  to  meet  her,  and 
Lucy,  in  whom  some  of  the  old  dread  seemed  strug- 
gling to  awake,  went  silently.  But  when  she  was 
suddenly  caught  in  a  warm  embrace,  before  even 
her  father  was  greeted,  and  when  a  sweet  voice  said, 
"  Oh,  what  a  long  two  weeks  it  has  been,  Lucy ! 
Do  say  you  have  missed  me ! "  Lucy  felt  that  all 
was  indeed  well  with  her  world. 

Mrs.  Breen  had  brought  another  brother  with 
her:  a  shy,  awkward  boy,  evidently  frightened  to 
death  of  Lucy,  a  fact  which  of  course  set  her  com- 
pletely at  her  ease.  They  drove  home,  and  Lucy 
and  her  father  dogged  Mrs.  Breen's  footsteps  up 
the  stairs  when  she  said  she  would  go  and  take  off 
her  things.  Not  for  worlds  would  they  have  missed 
seeing  her  first  look  at  the  newly  decorated  room. 
And  it  was  worth  all  the  trouble  to  witness  her 
delight  and  appreciation. 

So  Happiness  and  Love  and  Understanding  came 
into  the  Breen  home.  Lucy  wore  her  trefoil  with 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

a  new  gratitude  and  a  new  understanding.  Elise 
felt  a  happiness  that  she  had  thought  she  could 
never  feel,  for  she  had  helped  a  sister  Scout  through 
a  dark  and  dreadful  place  in  her  life.  Mrs.  Breen 
was  so  happy  thai  she  sang  and  sang  all  the  day 
long,  and  when  one  day  a  baby  boy  set  up  a  lusty 
roar  in  the  beautiful  room  that  Lucy  had  made, 
it  was  Lucy  who  named  him,  and  Lucy  who  assumed 
such  airs  of  superiority  in  speaking  of  "  my  baby 
brother  "  that  the  girls  grew  to  avoid  the  subject 
of  children  in  general  as  it  was  sure  to  bring  from 
Lucy  some  anecdote  to  prove  the  vast  superiority 
and  beauty  of  the  Breen  baby. 

Rosanna  was  happy  too.  Uncle  Robert  had  been 
away  longer  than  Rosanna  liked.  She  was  sur- 
prised to  find  how  much  she  missed  Uncle  Robert. 
And  much  as  she  loved  him,  and  wanted  him  to 
be  happy,  she  decided  that  it  was  really  a  good 
thing  that  he  did  not  care  for  girls.  The  various 
uncles  who  did  like  girls  she  noticed  had  a  way  of 
marrying  one  of  them  and  leaving  home  for  good. 
That  was  a  poor  plan,  thought  Rosanna,  as  she  felt 
the  silence  in  the  big  old  house.  No  number  of 
girls  could  make  the  whistly  noises  Uncle  Robert 
could  when  he  ran  upstairs  three  steps  at  a  time 
or  dashed  down  again.  No  one  but  Uncle  Robert 
could  tootle  so  entrancingly  on  the  flute,  or  pick  out 
such  funny  records  for  the  Victrola.  No  one  in  the 
world  would  think  to  bring  one  a  box  of  candy 
and  leave  it  hidden  in  his  hat,  or  just  outside  the 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

door  for  one  to  find  after  dinner.  No  other  Uncle 
would  remember  a  little  girl's  birthday  once  a 
month  with  a  new  dollar  bill. 

Rosanna,  driven  by  a  real  loneliness  to  confide 
in  someone,  spent  much  time  wita  Miss  Hooker  and 
while  Rosanna  honestly  thought  she  was  attending 
strictly  to  Scout  business,  the  conversation  was 
sure  to  slip  around  to  Uncle  Robert.  Miss  Hooker 
never  appeared  to  join  Rosanna  in  her  talk,  but  it 
was  surprising  what  a  good  listener  she  proved  to 
be.  The  only  time  she  said  anything  was  when 
Rosanna  would  enlarge  on  the  way  Uncle  Robert 
felt  about  girls.  Then  Miss  Hooker  would  always 
assert  that  she  thought  he  was  perfectly  right,  be- 
cause she  herself  thought  very  little  of  men.  Silly 
creatures  she  said  they  were,  at  which  loyal  Ro- 
sanna would  always  declare,  "  But  Uncle  Robert 
isn't." 

Miss  Hooker  would  answer,  "  Possibly  not,"  in  a 
manner  that  insinuated  that  perhaps  he  wasn't,  and 
perhaps  he  was,  but  Rosanna  let  it  go. 

However,  Rosanna  was  happy  because  Uncle  Rob- 
ert had  written  her  that  he  was  coming  home  in  a 
day  or  two,  and  that  she  might  get  ready  to  look 
in  the  left  hand  pocket  of  his  overcoat,  and  what- 
ever was  there  she  could  have.  When  she  told  Miss 
Hooker  she  was  grieved  to  hear  her  say  that  she 
was  not  sure  that  she  would  be  around  to  see  the 
surprise,  because  she  was  planning  to  go  away  her- 
self, and  wasn't  it  too  bad? 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  I  should  say  it  was !  "  said  Rosanna.  "  Why, 
then  you  won't  see  Uncle  Robert  either !  " 

"  No,"  said  Miss  Hooker,  "  but  it  really  doesn't 
make  any  difference.  I  don't  suppose  I  am  any 
more  anxious  to  see  him  than  he  is  to  see  me." 

When  Uncle  Robert  appeared  and  came  up  the 
front  steps  three  at  a  time  as  usual,  Rosanna  was 
at  the  door  to  meet  him.  She  jumped  into  his 
arms  and  hugged  him  until  he  begged  for  mercy. 

As  she  let  him  go,  she  happened  to  think  of  the 
left  hand  pocket,  and  had  to  think  which  was  the 
left.  While  she  was  deciding,  she  heard  a  funny 
noise,  and  there  in  the  pocket  was  a  fuzzy  head. 
The  most  adorable  little  head !  It  was  a  tiny  baby 
collie,  looking  like  a  small  bear.  Rosanna  had 
him  out  in  a  second,  and  Uncle  Robert  left  her  with 
her  new  pet  while  he  went  to  speak  to  his  mother. 

That  night  he  came  up  to  show  Rosanna  how  to 
put  her  puppy  to  bed  for  the  night,  and  when  the 
little  fellow  at  last  snuggled  down  in  his  basket, 
and  went  to  sleep,  Uncle  Robert  settled  down  in 
his  favorite  chair  and  lighted  a  cigarette  and 
wanted  to  hear  all  the  news. 

"What  shall  I  start  with?"  asked  Rosanna,  lis- 
tening to  the  soft  breathing  of  the  little  collie. 

"Oh,  it  doesn't  matter,"  said  Uncle  Robert. 
"Begin  with  Miss — er  Gwenny." 

"  Why,  yon  needn't  call  her  Miss"  said  Rosanna. 
"You  never  used  to!  I  thought  first  you  were 
going  to  say  begin  with  Miss  Hooker." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Ridiculous !  "  laughed  Uncle  Robert,  cocking 
his  eye  up  at  the  ceiling.  "  Begin  with  Gwenny, 
of  course." 

"  Well,"  said  Rosanna,  "  we  have  only  had  two 
letters  from  her  mother.  One  was  soon  after  you 
went  away,  and  said  that  Gwenny  was  very  comfort- 
able indeed,  and  had  a  fine  room,  and  was  making 
a  great  many  friends.  The  doctor  couldn't  tell 
when  he  would  operate,  because  he  would  have  to 
take  Gwenny  any  time  she  happened  to  be  at  her 
best.  That  was  about  all  of  that  letter.  The  next 
one  was  just  the  other  day.  And  Uncle  Robert, 
they  havs  operated !  They  telegraphed  for  Doctor 
Rick,  and  he  is  there  now.  But  Mrs.  Harter  wrote 
that  the  operation  was  over  and  Doctor  Branshaw 
thinks  it  will  be  perfectly  successful." 

"  Well,  that  is  perfectly  splendid ! "  said  Uncle 
Robert.  "  Did  she  tell  you  how  Gwenny  stood  it?  " 

"  Yes.  She  said  for  a  couple  of  hours  they  were 
afraid  her  heart  was  going  to  stop,  but  that  Doctor 
Branshaw  stood  right  over  her,  and  had  everything 
ready  to  start  it  again  if  they  could.  He  stayed 
with  her  all  night.  You  ought  to  hear  the  way 
Mrs.  Harter  talks  about  him.  She  thinks  he  is  a 
saint,  as  well  as  the  greatest  doctor  in  the  whole 
world." 

"  He  assays  pretty  well  toward  solid  gold,"  said 
Uncle  Robert. 

"  Mrs.  Harter  says  they  don't  know  when  they 
will  be  able  to  get  home,  but  already  Gwenny  sleeps 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

better  and  is  beginning  to  want  to  eat.  She  never 
did,  you  know." 

"  That  is  certainly  fine  news,"  said  Uncle  Robert. 
"Anything  else  happened  while  I  was  away?" 

"You  know  that  Lucy  Breen?"  asked  Rosanna. 

Uncle  Robert  shook  his  head. 

"  She  has  turned  out  to  be  a  real  nice  girl,  and 
Helen  and  Elise  and  I  go  over  there  a  lot.  And 
her  mother  (it's  really  her  stepmother,  only  Lucy 
is  mad  if  you  call  her  that)  is  perfectly  lovely. 
If  you  could  only  marry  her,  Uncle  Robert !  " 

"  Thank  you,  Rosanna,  but  Mr.  Breen  looks  husky 
and  he  might  object." 

"  Oh,  that  was  a  joke,"  said  Rosanna.  "  Like 
the  time  you  said  you  pretty  near  loved  Miss 
Hooker.  I  wish  you  could  have  heard  her  laugh 
when  I  told  her  that." 

"  Oh,  you  told  her,  did  you?  "  said  Uncle  Robert. 

"  It  was  so  funny  I  had  to." 

"  What  did  she  say?  "  asked  Uncle  Robert,  sitting 
up  suddenly. 

"  She  said  she  thought  you  were  the  most  amus- 
ing person  she  had  ever  met  and  that  no  one  could 
possibly  take  you  seriously.  I  agreed  with  her." 

"  I'll  bet  you  did! "  said  Uncle  Robert. 

"  She  has  gone  away,"  said  Rosanna  as  an  after- 
thought. "  She  went  today.  I  told  her  I  was 
sorry  she  wouldn't  be  able  to  see  what  you  brought 
me,  and  wouldn't  see  you  either,  but  she  said  it 
didn't  make  any  difference  as  she  wasn't  any  more 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

anxious  to  see  you  than  she  supposed  you  were  to 
see  her." 

Uncle  Robert  laughed  a  short,  queer  laugh. 

"Well,  Rosanna,  just  you  watch  what  happens 
now !  I  will  just  pay  her  up  for  that." 

"  What  do  you  care?  "  asked  Rosanna.  "  I  don't 
see  what  difference  it  makes.  She  likes  you  all 
right;  she  thinks  you  are  so  funny." 

"  I  will  show  her  how  funny  I  can  be,"  said  Uncle 
Robert.  "  Where  has  she  gone?  " 

"To  Atlantic  City,"  said  Rosanna. 

"  I  may  see  her  there,"  said  Uncle  Robert.  "  The 
doctor  says  the  sea  air  would  be  great  for  me." 

"  What  ails  you? "  said  Rosanna  anxiously. 
"You  look  perfectly  well." 

"A  little  trouble  with  my  heart,"  said  Uncle 
Robert  soberly.  "  It  acts  like  the  very  deuce,  Ro- 
sanna. Part  of  the  time  it  feels  sort  of  —  sort  of, 
well,  sort  of  empty,  and  then  it  has  spells  when 
I  get  to  thinking  hard  and  beats  as  fast  as  it  can. 
It  is  awful,  Rosanna." 

"  I  should  say  it  was !  "  said  Rosanna.  "  Oh, 
Uncle  Robert,  do  try  to  get  it  well!  If  anything 
should  happen  to  you,  I  would  think  it  was  that 
benefit.  You  had  to  work  so  hard." 

"  I  think  myself  that  had  something  to  do  with 
it,"  said  Robert,  "  but  of  course  I  only  did  my  duty, 
and  I  don't  blame  a  soul." 


CHAPTER  XII 

THERE  was  a  long  silence  during  which  Rosanna 
studied  her  uncle  closely.  She  even  forgot  the 
puppy.  What  if  anything  should  happen  to  Uncle 
Robert?  As  she  looked  at  him  it  flashed  over  her 
that  she  cared  for  him  with  all  her  heart.  She 
would  not  know  what  to  do  without  him.  She  felt 
very  sad,  and  when  Uncle  Robert  looked  up  and 
surprised  the  worried  expression  on  her  face  he 
laughed,  and  said : 

"  Cheer  up,  sweetness !  I  am  all  right,  and  I 
want  you  to  promise  me  that  you  won't  tell  mother 
what  I  have  just  told  you.  I  don't  want  to  worry 
her." 

"  I  promise,  Uncle  Robert ;  and  I  always  keep 
my  promises,"  said  Rosanna. 

"  That  is  a  good  thing,"  said  Uncle  Robert.  "  I 
wish  I  had  known  that  before.  I  would  have  had 
you  make  me  some."  But  he  wouldn't  explain  that 
remark,  and  soon  went  out,  not  seeming  to  care 
for  the  rest  of  the  news  which,  being  all  about  the 
Scouts,  Rosanna  had  left  until  the  last  as  the  most 
important. 

The  Girl  Scouts  were  very  busy  now  getting  ready 
for  Christmas.  There  was  a  cast-iron  rule  in  that 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  EALLY 

particular  troop  that  all  Christinas  presents  should 
be  finished  and  wrapped  up  three  weeks  before 
Christmas. 

So  with  all  their  own  work  well  out  of  the  way, 
they  were  busy  as  bees  making  tarleton  stockings 
and  collecting  toys  and  dolls  for  the  particular 
orphanage  they  had  assumed  the  care  of.  Louis- 
ville is  full  of  orphanages,  and  every  year  the  girls 
were  in  the  habit  of  choosing  one  of  them  for  their 
attention.  They  dressed  a  tree,  and  secured  pres- 
ents for  each  of  the  children.  These  presents  were 
often  dolls  and  toys  that  had  been  cast  aside  by 
more  fortunate  children,  but  the  girls  took  them 
and  mended  and  painted  and  dressed  them  until 
you  would  have  been  surprised  at  the  result.  At 
least  they  never  offered  anything  that  looked 
shabby.  The  stockings  were  filled  with  popcorn 
and  candy,  and  a  big  golden  orange  gladdened  each 
little  heart. 

Rosanna  worked  harder  than  anyone.  School 
went  right  on  as  it  always  does  whether  or  not 
Girl  Scouts  are  busy  at  other  things,  and  every 
spare  moment  was  spent  with  the  dear  little  puppy 
that  her  uncle  had  brought  her.  Mr.  Horton  still 
complained  to  Rosanna  about  his  heart,  but  was 
unable  to  go  east  as  be  had  planned.  He  often 
asked  Rosanna  if  Miss  Hooker  had  returned,  al- 
though Rosanna  had  told  him  a  good  many  times 
that  she  did  not  expect  to  come  back  before  spring. 

But  news  came  from  Gwenny.     She  was  so  much 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

better  that  she  could  come  back.  As  Miss  Hooker 
was  away,  and  Uncle  Kobert  always  seemed  to 
have  time  to  do  things,  the  Girl  Scouts  made  him 
a  committee  to  go  and  pay  the  doctor  and  the  hos- 
pital bills,  and  see  that  Gwenny  and  her  mother 
reached  home  safely. 

Uncle  Robert  dashed  off  to  Cincinnati  that  very 
night.  The  next  day  he  returned  without  Gwenny, 
and  with  a  queer  look  on  his  face  asked  Rosanna 
to  ask  their  Lieutenant,  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
troop,  to  call  a  meeting  that  very  afternoon  or  eve- 
ning. Rosanna  called  Miss  Jamieson  up,  and  be- 
tween them  they  were  able  to  get  word  to  all  the 
girls.  Rosanna  was  as  excited  as  any  of  them, 
because  Uncle  Robert  would  not  tell  her  what  the 
matter  was.  When  the  girls  all  gathered  in  Ro- 
sanna's  sitting-room,  he  came  in,  looking  very  mys- 
terious and  important. 

"  I  have  news  for  you  girls  —  quite  remarkable 
news,  I  think.  To  begin,  I  went  down  to  Cincin- 
nati and  found  Gwenny  so  improved  that  I  actually 
did  not  know  her.  Of  course  she  is  still  in  a  wheel 
chair,  and  will  have  to  stay  there  most  of  the  time 
for  the  next  year  but  every  day  she  goes  through 
certain  exercises,  and  soon  will  begin  to  take  a  few 
steps.  Doctor  Branshaw  assured  me  that  she  will 
some  day  be  as  well  as  any  of  you.  They  have 
taught  Mrs.  Harter  just  how  to  rub  her,  and  help 
her  with  her  exercises. 

"  After  I  had  seen  Gwenny  I  went  down  and  paid 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

the  hospital  bill.  It  came  to  a  little  over  two 
hundred  dollars.  I  have  the  items  in  my  pocket. 
Then  I  went  to  Doctor  Branshaw's  office,  and  asked 
him  for  his  bill.  He  said,  <  Sit  down.  I  want  to 
have  a  talk  with  you.'  Well,  girls,  he  wanted  to 
know  all  about  you,  and  the  work  you  are  doing, 
and  how  many  there  are  of  you  in  the  troop  that  is 
taking  care  of  Gwenny.  I  told  him  about  the  bene- 
fit, and  he  said  he  had  heard  about  that  from 
Gwenny,  and  her  mother  as  well. 

"  I  didn't  want  to  bore  him,  so  after  we  had 
talked  you  pretty  well  out,  and  over,  I  asked  him 
again  for  his  bill,  and  he  said,  <  Ilorton,  there  is 
no  bill.'  I  said,  l  Well,  sir,  whenever  you  will  have 
it  made  out,  I  will  give  a  check  for  it.  The  money 
the  girls  made  is  banked  in  my  name  for  the  sake 
of  convenience.' 

"  <  How  much  is  there?'  asked  the  doctor.  I 
thought  he  didn't  want  to  charge  over  the  amount 
we  have  so  I  told  him.  He  fiddled  with  a  pencil 
for  awhile,  then  he  said : 

"  '  Ilorton,  I  make  the  rich  pay,  and  pay  well, 
but  I  do  not  intend  to  ask  those  girls  of  yours  a 
•cent  for  this  operation.' ' 

A  great  "  O-o-o-o-h !  "  went  up  from  the  girls. 

Uncle  Robert  went  on. 

"  Then  the  doctor  said,  before  I  could  thank  him, 
4  I  wonder  if  the  girls  would  mind  if  I  make  a  sug- 
gestion,' and  I  assured  him  that  you  would  like  it 
Tery  much. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALL1 

" '  Well  then/  said  the  doctor,  <  here  it  is. 
Gwenny  will  require  a  great  deal  of  care  for  many 
months  to  come,  rubbing  and  so  forth.  Why  don't 
those  good  girls  take  the  money  and  buy  a  little 
house  somewhere  on  the  edge  of  the  city,  or  on  a 
quiet  street,  where  the  Harters  could  live  a.nd  where 
Mrs.  ETarter  would  not  have  to  work  so  hard  to  earn 
the  rent?  From  what  she  says,  the  boys  earn 
nearly  enough  to  feed  the  family.  What  do  you 
think  of  that?' 

"  I  told  him  that  I  thought  it  was  a  splendid  idea, 
and  would  see  what  could  be  done  about  it.  Then 
he  made  the  finest  suggestion  of  all.  He  said  that 
another  week  in  the  hospital  would  be  of  great 
benefit  to  Gwenny,  and  why  didn't  I  come  home 
and  see  you  and  if  you  all  approve,  we  can  buy  a 
small  house  and  settle  it  and  Gwenny  can  be  moved 
right  there." 

A  shriek  of  delight  went  up,  and  everyone  com- 
menced to  talk  at  once. 

"Order,  order!"  cried  Mr.  Horton.  He  could 
scarcely  make  himself  heard. 

At  last  after  much  talking,  it  was  settled  that  Mr. 
Horton  should  look  at  a  number  of  houses,  and 
when  he  had  seen  them  he  was  to  select  the  three 
that  seemed  most  promising  and  take  all  the  girls 
to  see  them.  But  he  stipulated  that  a  couple  of 
older  ladies  should  look  them  over  with  him,  and 
Mrs.  Breen  and  Mrs.  Hargrave  were  chosen  by 
unanimous  vote. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Now,  girls,  how  are  you  going  to  thank  the 
Doctor?  "  he  asked. 

No  one  knew  and  finally  Rosanna  suggested  that 
it  would  be  well  to  think  it  over.  So  they  all 
trooped  home,  Uncle  Robert  promising  to  make  a 
report  at  the  end  of  three  days. 

It  was  a  long  three  days,  but  it  passed  finally,  and 
Uncle  Robert  appeared  with  an  account  of  three 
little  bungalows  that  seemed  all  that  he  had  hoped 
for,  and  more.  One  of  them  he  thought  was  the 
one  for  them  to  take,  as  it  was  right  on  a  good 
part  of  Preston  Street  where  the  children  could 
easily  get  to  school.  It  was  brand  new,  and  had 
never  been  occupied.  Indeed  it  was  not  finished 
but  would  be  within  two  or  three  days.  After  the 
girls  had  seen  the  three  houses,  Mr.  Horton  said  he 
would  tell  them  which  one  Mrs.  Hargrave  and  Mrs. 
Breen  liked  the  best.  Of  course  all  the  girls  piled 
into  the  automobiles  of  the  girls  who  had  them,  and 
made  the  rounds,  and  equally  of  course  they  all 
decided  on  the  Preston  Street  house  which  was 
the  very  one  that  Mrs.  Hargrave  and  Mrs.  Breen 
had  liked.  It  was  all  done  except  the  plumbing 
in  the  kitchen,  so  Mr.  Horton  went  right  over  to 
see  Minnie  who  was  still  keeping  house  for  the 
Harter  children.  Minnie  heard  all  about  the  new 
plan,  and  Mr.  Horton  asked : 

"  Now,  Minnie,  do  you  feel  like  moving  these 
people  all  over  there,  before  Mrs.  Harter  and 
Gwenny  come  home,  or  is  it  too  much  to  ask  you?  " 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  Just  you  fetch  me  a  moving  van  the  day  you 
want  we  should  move,"  said  Minnie,  "and  I  will 
do  the  rest."  She  cast  an  eye  around  the  dilapi- 
dated, shabby  room.  "  My,  my !  What  a  piece  of 
good  luck  for  the  de-serving  cst  woman !  I  tell  you, 
Mr.  Robert,  the  time  I've  been  here  has  been  a 
lesson  to  me.  The  way  she  has  scrimped,  and 
saved,  and  patched,  and  turned,  and  mended,  and 
went  without !  My  young  man  and  me  on  his  wages 
ought  to  put  away  fifty  dollars  every  month  of  our 
lives.  And  so  I  told  him  we  was  going  to  do.  Of 
course  I  will  move  'em!  And  Mr.  Robert,  if  it 
was  so  I  could  go  around  and  see  the  house,  per- 
haps I  could  tell  better  how  to  pack." 

"  That's  right,  Minnie.  Suppose  we  go  over 
now,"  said  Mr.  Horton. 

Minnie  was  overjoyed  when  she  saw  the  little 
house,  and  at  once  picked  out  a  room  for  Gwenny. 
The  other  children  could  double  up,  but  Gwenny 
should  have  a  room  to  herself.  Minnie  seemed 
thoughtful  all  the  way  home,  and  finally  said,  "  Mr. 
Horton,  up  in  your  garret,  there  is  a  pile  of  window 
curtains  that  don't  fit  anywhere,  and  they  will 
never  be  used.  I  have  handled  'em  a  million  times 
while  I  worked  for  your  mother.  And  there's  a 
square  table  with  a  marble  top  that  your  mother 
can't  abide  the  sight  of,  and  a  couple  of  brass  beds 
put  up  there  when  they  went  out  of  date.  If  your 
mother  would  spare  any  of  those  things  I  could  fix 
that  house  so  tasty." 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  I  don't  suppose  she  wants  any  of  them,"  said 
Robert  heartily.  "  I  will  speak  to  her  about  them 
when  I  go  home,  and  after  supper  Rosanna  and  I 
will  take  a  joy  ride  over  here  and  tell  you  what 
her  answer  is." 

The  answer  was  that  Mrs.  Horton  was  only  too 
glad  to  get  rid  of  the  things  Minnie  had  mentioned, 
and  suggested  that  before  settling  the  house  Minnie 
might  go  through  the  attic  and  see  if  there  was 
anything  else  that  she  thought  would  be  of  service. 
Mrs.  Horton,  knowing  that  Minnie  would  know 
better  than  she  could,  just  what  the  Harters  would 
appreciate,  refrained  from  making  any  suggestions ; 
and  Minnie  found  many  treasures  in  the  attic. 
There  were  portieres,  and  a  soft  low  couch,  the  very 
thing  for  Gwenny  to  rest  on  in  the  pleasan  t  sitting- 
room,  and  the  beds,  and  a  table  and  two  bureaus. 
And  she  found  two  carpet  rugs. 

She  set  Mary  and  Myron  to  work  with  a  pot  of 
cream  colored  paint,  and  in  two  days  the  shabby 
old  dining-room  table  and  shabbier  chairs  were  all 
wearing  bright  new  coats. 

As  soon  as  ever  she  could,  she  called  on  Mr.  Rob- 
ert for  the  moving  van,  and  moved  everything  over 
to  the  new  house.  Settling  was  a  joy,  there  were 
so  many  to  help.  All  the  Girl  Scouts  wanted  to 
do  something,  and  between  them  they  outfitted 
Gwenny ?s  dresser  (a  "walnut  one  that  was  put 
through  the  paint  test  and  came  out  pretty  as  could 
be).  The  two  carpet  rugs  were  laid  down  in  the 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

living-room  and  the  dining-room,  and  looked 
scarcely  worn  at  all  after  Minnie  had  finished 
scrubbing,  and  Tommy  and  Myron  had  whipped 
them.  The  dining-room .  rug  was  dark  blue,  and 
how  that  table  and  those  chairs  did  show  up  on  it. 
The  springs  were  broken  down  in  the  couch  Minnie 
had  picked  out,  but  she  turned  it  over  and  her 
young  man  nailed  a  new  piece  of  webbing  under- 
neath, and  in  five  minutes  it  was  as  good  as  new. 
Rosanna  helped  her  as  much  as  she  could.  When 
they  were  busy  putting  up  the  curtains  Minnie  said, 
"  Rosanna  dear,  I  think  your  Uncle  Robert  looks 
thin." 

"  I  think  he  does  too,"  said  Rosanna,  but  remem- 
bering her  promise  would  say  no  more. 

"  In  love,"  said  Minnie,  wisely  nodding  her  head. 

"  Of  course  not/'  said  Rosanna.  "  He  doesn't 
like  girls." 

"  No,  he  doesn't.  Oh  no !  "  said  Minnie.  "  Of 
course  he  is  in  love!  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me, 
Rosanna,  that  you  don't  know  that  he  is  in  love 
with  little  Miss  Hooker?  Don't  tell  me  that!  " 

"  I  do  tell  you,"  said  Rosanna.  "  He  doesn't 
even  like  her,  sweet  as  she  is." 

"  My  good  land,  hear  the  child !  "  said  Minnie, 
sitting  down  on  the  top  step  of  the  ladder,  and 
letting  the  stiffly  starched  curtain  trail  to  the  floor. 

"  Do  you  remember  the  day  she  came  to  see  you 
when  you  were  sick  after  your  accident,  and  your 
grandmother  had  said  you  could  be  a  Girl  Scout? 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

Do  you  remember  that  your  Uncle  Robert  was 
there  when  she  came  in?  Well,  believe  me,  Ro- 
sanna, your  Uncle  Robert  fell  in  love  with  her  that 
very  day  and  hour  and  minute,  and  that's  the 
truth." 

"  I  wish  it  was,"  sighed  Rosanna.  "  I  do  wish 
it  was,  but  he  truly  does  not  like  her.  I  don't 
know  why." 

"  Well,  that  beats  me !  "  said  Minnie,  picking  up 
the  slack  of  the  curtain  again,  and  sadly  hanging 
it.  "  I  certainly  am  disappointed,  for  she  is  the 
sweetest  little  bit  I  ever  hope  to  see,  and  it  would 
be  a  mercy  to  see  that  good,  kind,  nice  actin'  young 
man  get  the  likes  of  her  rather  than  some  high 
nosed  madam,  who  would  look  down  on  all  his 
humble  friends  (as  friends  we  are,  Rosanna,  as 
you  may  wTell  believe)." 

Rosanna  did  not  answer.  She  was  too  low  in 
her  mind.  She  knew  that  Uncle  Robert  did  not 
care  for  anyone,  but  what  if  someone  should  grab 
him  anyhow?  Rosanna  felt  that  life  was  full  of 
perils. 

Two  days  later  the  little  house  was  in  perfect 
order,  and  Uncle  Robert  went  again  to  Cincinnati 
after  Gwenny.  It  wras  decided  that  no  one  should 
meet  them  on  account  of  tiring  Gwenny  after  her 
journey,  so  Uncle  Robert  carried  Gwenny  to  the 
automobile  and  took  her  home  to  the  little  new 
house,  her  mother  looking  back  with  her  sweet, 
anxious  smile  from  the  front  seat  of  the  automobile. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

When  they  reached  the  Preston  Street  house,  and 
Mary  and  Myron  and  boisterous  Tommy  and  little 
Luella  all  filed  out  quite  quiet,  but  brimming  witb 
happiness,  Mrs.  Harter  could  only  stare. 

"  This  is  Gwenny's  house,  Mrs.  Harter,  deeded 
to  her.  Come  in !"  said  Mr.  Horton,  as  Minnie 
rushed  out  and  led  the  dazed  woman  into  all  the 
glories  of  the  new  home. 

Mr.  Horton  carried  Gwenny  straight  to  her  own 
room,  and  laid  her  down  on  the  sparkling,  gleam- 
ing brass  bed,  where  he  left  her  listening  to  Mary's 
rapid  explanations.  When  he  went  downstairs  he 
found  Mrs.  Harter  in  the  kitchen,  crying  silently. 

"  Now,  now,  Mrs.  Harter,  you  must  not  do  that!  " 
he  said.  "  Brace  up  like  a  good  woman !  Gwenny 
will  need  a  lot  of  care  for  a  few  days,  and  you  will 
need  all  your  strength." 

"  Oh,  but  I  am  so  thankful  that  my  heart  feels 
as  though  it  would  break!"  said  Mrs.  Harter. 

Mr.  Horton  laughed.  "  It  won't  break,"  he  said. 
"  Minnie,  shall  I  take  you  home?  " 

"  Thank  you,  sir,  but  my  Tom  is  coming  over  a 
little  later.  I  have  supper  all  fixed,  so  we  will 
have  a  small  feast  to  celebrate,  after  Gwenny  is 
attended  to  and  safe  in  bed,  so  I  will  get  home 
nicely,  thank  you." 

"  Good  night  then,"  said  Mr.  Horton.  "  Don't 
let  those  Girl  Scouts  run  over  you,  Mrs.  Harter." 
He  raised  his  hat  and  ran  down  the  steps  whistling. 

"  There  goes  one  good  man,"  said  Minnie  sol- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

emnly.  "  Come,  dear,  and  take  off  your  hat  in  your 
own  house,  and  see  the  ducky  closet  under  the  stairs 
to  keep  it  in." 

And  so  it  was  that  Gwenny  came  home. 

Mr.  Horton  sped  to  his  own  home  as  fast  as  he 
dared  drive  the  car,  the  chauffeur  sitting  silently 
beside  him.  Robert  was  too  happy  to  let  anyone 
else  handle  the  wheel.  Once  more  he  dashed  up 
the  steps  three  at  a  time,  whistling.  Rosanna  was 
at  the  door. 

"  Be  careful  of  your  heart,  Uncle  Robert,"  she 
whispered,  looking  around  to  see  that  her  grand- 
mother was  not  within  hearing.  "  Were  they 
pleased?" 

"Were  they?"  said  Uncle  Robert.  "I  should 
say  they  were!  Everybody  perfectly  happy! 
Gwenny  staring  around  her  pretty  room,  and  Mrs. 
Harter  crying  in  the  sink.  Yes,  everybody  is 
happy.  Teedle-ee,  teedle-oo !  "  warbled  Uncle  Rob- 
ert. 

"  How  good  and  kind  you  are,  dear  Uncle  Rob- 
ert !  "  said  Rosanna  tenderly. 

"Yes,  ain't  If"  said  Uncle  Robert,  deliberately 
ungrammatical.  "Oh,  yes,  I  "be!"  he  went  on 
chanting,  as  he  sat  down  and  fished  out  a  cigarette. 
Then  changing  to  a  sober  tone,  "  Rosanna,  whom 
do  you  think  I  found  in  Cincinnati?  Up  there 
at  that  Hospital  as  large  as  life?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Rosanna. 

"  Well,  if  you  will  believe  me,  there  was  that  bad 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

little  bit  of  a  Miss  Hooker,  who  had  come  back 
from  Atlantic  City  to  see  that  Gwenny  was  all 
right.  She  helped  me  bring  them  home.  And 
Rosanna,  perhaps  I  didn't  get  even  with  her,  for 
what  she  said  about  my  being  funny!  You  know 
I  told  you  I  would.  I  did !  It  was  hard,  hard 
work  but  I  done  it,  I  done  it !  Tra-la-de-lu-de-lu-de- 
i-i-i-i-i ! "  yodeled  Uncle  Robert,  whisking  the  ash 
off  his  cigarette. 

"What  did  you  do  to  her?"  asked  Rosanna  in 
a  small,  fearful  voice. 

Uncle  Robert  looked  very  sternly  at  Rosanna. 

"  What  did  I  do?  "  he  asked.  "  What  did  I  do? 
Well,  I  made  her  promise  to  marry  me ;  that's  what 
I  did!  Pretty  smart  uncle,  hey,  Rosanna?  " 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ROSANNA  sank  feebly  down  on  the  hall  bench, 
and  to  her  own  surprise  and  Uncle  Robert's  dismay 
burst  into  tears. 

"  Well,  who  next?  "  said  Uncle  Robert.  "  Mrs. 
Harter  crying  in  the  sink,  and  you  weeping  all  over 
our  nice  hall.  Oh  dear,  what  a  wet,  wet  world !  " 

"  Oh,  don't  mind  me,"  said  Rosanna,  choking 
back  her  sobs.  "  I  am  perfectly  happy,  only  every- 
thing turns  out  so  differently  from  everything 
else!" 

"  I  suppose  you  are  right,"  granted  Uncle  Rob- 
ert. "  You  must  be  if  you  know  what  you  mean." 

"  I  am  not  sure  what  I  mean,"  said  Rosanna, 
"but  I  am  so  glad,  glad,  glad  that  you  are  going 
to  marry  that  dear  darling  Miss  Hooker  instead 
of  that  high  nosed  madam !  " 

"  What  are  you  talking  about?  "  demanded  Rob- 
ert. "High  nosed?  Who  is  she?" 

"  I  think  it  is  someone  Minnie  made  up,"  said 
Rosanna.  "  She  said  what  a  shame  if  she  married 
you." 

"  Well,  she  didn't  and  won't,"  declared  Uncle 
Robert  with  conviction.  "  And  as  far  as  nose  goes, 
my  girl  has  only  enough  nose  so  that  one  knows 
it  is  a  nose.  Get  that,  Rosanna?" 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Rosanna  giggled.  "  Have  you  told  grand- 
mother? "  she  asked. 

Uncle  Robert  looked  suddenly  sobered. 

"  No,  I  didn't,  and  I  should  have  done  so  first 
and  I  meant  to,  and  it  is  all  your  fault,  Rosanna." 

"  How  so?  "  asked  Rosanna  in  surprise. 

"  Well,  if  it  hadn't  been  for  you  I  would  never 
have  been  traipsing  over  the  country  on  errands 
for  the  Girl  Scouts  and  you  wouldn't  have  been 
waiting  for  me  in  the  hall,  and  I  wouldn't  have 
been  so  fussed  at  seeing  you  that  I  would  forget 
to  tell  my  mamma  first.  And  she  won't  like  it 
unless  she  gets  told  right  quick,"  added  Uncle  Rob- 
ert, getting  up.  Rosanna  wiped  her  eyes,  where- 
upon Uncle  Robert  sang : 

"  There,  little  girlie,  don't  you  cry, 
We'll  have  a  wedding  by  and  by," 

and  ran  up  the  stairs,  three  at  a  time,  whistling 
as  he  went  in  search  of  his  mother. 

Uncle  Robert  was  not  one  to  take  chances.  After 
seeing  his  mother,  who  was  truly  pleased  and  had 
the  good  sense  to  show  it,  he  started  to  Mrs.  Har- 
grave's,  and  after  a  short  visit  left  that  dear  old 
lady  busy  at  the  telephone.  The  result  was  a  won- 
derful announcement  luncheon  a  week  later,  given 
by  Mrs.  Hargrave,  at  which  the  little  Captain 
looked  dimplier  and  sweeter  than  ever.  After  the 
luncheon  she  went  over  to  Rosanna's  house,  where 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

she  found  all  her  Girl  Scouts  ready  to  congratulate 
her. 

"  You  won't  give  us  up,  will  you?  "  they  all  asked 
anxiously,  and  she  assured  them  that  she  would 
not.  Seeing  that  they  were  really  anxious,  she 
made  them  all  sit  down  close  around  her,  and  one 
by  one  they  sang  the  Scout  songs.  They  were  hap- 
pier after  that,  and  only  Rosanna  was  just  a  little 
lonely  when  she  thought  of  the  days  when  Uncle 
Robert  was  away,  and  reflected  that  all  the  days 
would  be  like  that  by-and-by.  Just  her  grand- 
mother and  herself  in  the  great  stately  old  house, 
not  occupying  half  of  the  rooms,  and  making  so 
little  noise  that  it  made  her  lonely  just  to  think 
of  it.  However,  she  put  it  out  of  her  mind  as 
bravely  as  she  could. 

Miss  Hooker  stayed  to  dinner,  and  Mrs.  Horton 
was  so  charming  that  Rosanna  could  not  help 
thinking  what  a  very  lovely  young  lady  she  must 
have  been.  After  dinner,  Mrs.  Horton  calmly  car- 
ried her  little  guest  away  to  her  own  sitting-room 
for  what  she  called  a  consultation,  and  Rosanna 
and  Uncle  Robert  who  had  nothing  whatever  to 
consult  about  now,  sat  and  read.  Upstairs,  Mrs. 
Horton  sat  down  opposite  her  son's  sweetheart,  and 
said  smilingly: 

"  I  want  to  say  something  to  you  that  Robert 
does  not  dream  I  am  going  to  say,  and  if  you  do 
not  approve,  I  want  you  to  be  frank  enough  and 
brave  enough  to  tell  me.  Will  you?  " 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"Yes,  indeed  I  will,"  Miss  Hooker  promised. 

"  I  am  an  old  woman,  my  dear,  and  silent.  Some- 
times I  fear  I  am  not  very  agreeable.  It  is  a  hard 
and  unchildlike  life  that  our  little  Rosanna  leads 
here  with  me.  I  want  you  to  ask  yourself  if  for 
her  sake  you  could  bring  yourself  to  live  here  for 
a  few  years.  I  know  how  dear  a  new  little  house  is 
to  a  bride's  heart,  and  I  tremble  to  ask  you  such 
a  favor.  But  Rosanna  has  a  lonely  life  at  best, 
and  with  you  here  this  house  could  be  made  gay 
indeed. 

"  I  would  never  ask  it  for  myself,  but  I  do  for 
Rosanna.  I  would  gladly  do  anything  I  could  for 
her,  but  I  cannot  fill  the  house  with  the  sort  of 
joy  and  gayety  that  she  should  have.  She  loves 
you  deeply,  and  her  Uncle  Robert  is  her  ideal. 

"  Wait  a  moment,  dear,"  she  added  as  she  saw 
her  guest  was  about  to  speak.  "  I  want  to  tell  you 
what  we  could  do.  There  are  nine  large  rooms  on 
this  floor.  You  could  select  what  you  want  for  a 
suite,  and  you  and  Robert  could  decorate  and  fur- 
nish and  arrange  them  to  suit  yourselves.  I  would 
be  so  glad  to  do  this  just  as  you  wish,  and  then  of 
course,  my  dear,  the  house  is  all  yours  besides. 
Could  you  consider  it?  " 

"  I  don't  have  to  consider  it,"  said  the  little  Cap- 
tain. "  I  have  already  thought  about  it,  and  was 
worried  about  Rosanna,  but  I  knew  that  she  could 
not  come  to  us  and  leave  you  all  alone  here.  I 
am  sure  Bob  will  be  glad  to  arrange  it  as  you  sug- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

gest,  for  he  is  very  devoted  to  his  mother  and  to 
Rosanna  as  well." 

Mrs.  Horton  gave  a  sigh  of  relief.  "  I  can't 
thank  YOU  enough,  iny  dearest  girl,"  she  said.  "  No 
one  wants  to  make  your  life  as  happy  as  I  do,  and 
if  there  is  anything  I  can  ever  do  for  you,  you  have 
only  to  tell  me.  Now  we  must  have  everything 
new  in  the  rooms  you  want,  so  we  will  go  down 
and  tell  Robert  and  Rosanna.  How  glad  that  child 
will  be!" 

Rosanna  was  tired  and  very  nervous,  and  when 
Mrs.  Horton  and  Miss  Hooker  came  down  with 
their  great  plan,  Rosanna  once  more,  to  her  own 
horror,  commenced  to  cry. 

"  Well,  for  goodness'  sake,"  her  uncle  cried,  "  I 
never  did  see  anything  like  this!  What  ails  the 
child?  This  certainly  settles  me!  I  shall  never, 
never  plan  to  get  married  again.  Rosanna  is  turn- 
ing into  a  regular  founting;  yes,  ma'am,  a  regular 
Counting! " 

"  Oh,  I  am  so  sorry  —  no,  I  mean  I  am  so  glad," 
said  Rosanna. 

"  You  mean  you  are  all  tired  out,  and  ought  to 
go  to  bed,"  said  her  grandmother. 

"  And  if  I  am  to  come  here  to  live,"  said  Robert's 
sweetheart,  dimpling,  "  I  may  as  well  see  how  I 
shall  like  putting  a  girl  in  her  little  bed." 

Rosanna,  nearly  as  tall  as  the  little  lady,  laughed 
through  her  tears.  She  went  over  and  kissed  her 
uncle  good-nigrht 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  I  am  sorry  I  was  so  silly,"  she  whispered.  "  I 
was  so  lonely  when  I  thought  you  were  going  away 
that  somehow  when  I  found  you  were  not,  why,  I 
just  couldn't  help  myself." 

"  I  know  how  you  felt.  It  is  all  right,  sweet- 
ness," Uncle  Robert  whispered  back.  Rosanna's 
clasp  tightened  round  his  neck. 

"  Uncle  Robert,  shall  I  —  do  you  suppose  —  will 
I  be  your  sweetness  just  the  same  even  after  you 
are  married?  " 

Uncle  Robert  kissed  her  hard.  "  Before  and 
after,  and  forever  and  ever  more !  "  he  said.  "  Just 
as  soon  as  I  get  to  be  a  sober  married  man,  I  shall 
be  your  uncle  and  your  daddy  too,  and  you  are 
going  to  be  the  happiest  little  girl  in  the  world." 

"  Oh,  Uncle  Robert ! "  was  all  Rosanna  could 
say,  but  her  look  thanked  him  and  tears  were  very 
near  his  own  eyes  as  he  watched  the  little  orphaned 
girl  skipping  off  with  her  arm  around  the  shoul- 
ders of  his  future  wife.  But  they  were  tears  of 
happiness. 

"  Don't  you  love  this  room,  Captain?  "  asked  Ro- 
sanna, as  she  switched  on  the  soft  flood  of  light. 

"  Indeed  I  do !  "  said  Miss  Hooker.  "  I  expect 
to  spend  a  great  deal  of  my  time  here.  Between 
us,  Rosanna,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  plan  the  most 
wonderful  things  for  our  Scout  troop.  And  next 
summer  Bob  says  he  will  find  a  place  for  us  to 
camp,  and  fit  us  out  with  tents  and  all  that,  so 
we  will  not  have  to  go  to  a  boarding-house  or  hotel, 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

but  stay  right  in  the  open.  Won't  that  be  splen- 
did?" 

"  Think  of  it !  "  said  Rosanna,  "  Won't  the  girls 
be  wild  when  they  hear  about  it?  Oh,  dear,  I  wish 
I  was  eighteen  so  I  could  be  a  lieutenant ! " 

"  I  don't  wish  you  were  eighteen,"  said  Miss 
Hooker.  "  I  like  you  just  as  you  are." 

"  Oh,  Miss  Hooker,  you  are  so  sweet !  "  said  Ro- 
sanna. 

Miss  Hooker  dimpled.  "  One  thing  we  had  bet- 
ter settle  right  now,"  she  said.  "  What  are  you 
going  to  call  me?  " 

Rosanna  looked  blank.  "  I  hadn't  thought  about 
that  at  all.  Of  course  I  can't  go  on  calling  you 
Miss  Hooker,  and  then  Mrs.  Horton.  And  you  are 
too  little  and  too  young  to  be  anybody's  aunt." 

Miss  Hooker  watched  her  with  a  smile. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  then?  I 
want  you  to  call  me  just  what  you  like.  You  are 
to  choose." 

"  Then  I  will  tell  you  what,"  said  Rosanna 
brightly.  "  I  was  reading  the  sweetest  little  story 
the  other  day  about  a  Spanish  family,  and  they 
called  each  other  Cita.  It  means  dear." 

"  Cita"  repeated  Miss  Hooker.  "  Why,  I  think 
that  is  just  as  sweet  as  it  can  be,  and  I  should  love 
to  have  you  call  me  that." 

"  Then  that  is  what  you  are,  little  Cita,"  said 
Rosanna  with  a  kiss.  And  to  her  devoted  house- 
hold, Cita  she  remains  to  this  very  day. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Cita  and  Uncle  Robert  did  not  seem  able  to  airree 
on  a  date  for  their  wedding.  Cita  declared  that  it 
would  take  at  least  six  or  eight  months  to  get 
what  she  mysteriously  called  her  "  things "  to- 
gether. Uncle  Robert  declared  with  equal  fervor 
that  she  had  everything  she  needed,  and  that  they 
were  not  going  to  go  off  and  live  on  a  desert  isle 
where  there  were  no  shops. 

Finally  Uncle  Robert  had  an  inspiration.  "  I 
tell  you  what  let's  do,"  he  said  after  a  long  Argu- 
ment. "  Let's  leave  this  to  an  outsider :  someone 
with  no  special  interest  in  the  affair.  And  as  a 
business  man,  I  will  name  the  agent." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Cita.  "  See  that  you  play 
fair." 

"  I  name  and  nominate  Miss  Rosanna  Horton, 
and  as  her  aids  and  assistants  I  name  and  nominate 
Miss  Helen  Culver  and  Miss  Elise  Hargrave." 

"  That  is  not  playing  fair  at  all ! "  cried  Cita. 
"  You  know  perfectly  well  that  they  want  us  to  be 
married  soon." 

Robert  shook  his  head.  "  Not  at  all !  Our  mar- 
riage is  detrimental  to  those  persons  named,  inso- 
much as  I  shall  take  you  off  on  a  wedding  trip,  and 
by  so  doing  shall  interfere  with  the  routine  of  work 
in  your  Scout  troop.  That  is  a  good  committee, 
and  I  shall  trust  them.  I  shall  now  call  them  in." 

The  three  girls  wrere  working  in  the  Scout  room 
on  the  tarleton  stockings,  filling  and  tying  them. 
Robert  stepped  to  the  door  and  summoned  them. 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Putting  the  question  before  them  in  the  most  seri- 
ous manner,  he  told  them  that  they  were  to  decide. 

"  I  should  think  I  ought  to  decide  my  oivn  wed- 
ding day !  "  cried  Cita. 

"You  don't  seem  able  to  do  it,"  said  Robert, 
"  You  have  been  trying  to  decide  for  the  last  ten 
days.  You  see  it  is  a  business  proposition  with 
me.  Perhaps  if  these  good,  kind  young  ladies  suc- 
ceed in  fixing  a  wedding  day,  say  before  Christ- 
mas, I  won't  have  to  buy  you  any  Christmas 
present." 

"  I  don't  want  to  be  married  before  Christ- 
mas/' wailed  Cita,  looking  appealingly  at  the  girls. 

Rosanna  nodded  her  head  understandingly,  and 
the  three  girls  left  the  room. 

"  When  will  we  set  it?  "  asked  Helen.  "  Do  they 
really  mean  that  we  are  to  do  so?  " 

"  Tell  him  we  have  decided  on  the  fifteenth  of 
February,"  said  Rosanna.  "  That  is  the  date  she 
has  fixed,  but  he  is  such  a  tease  that  she  has  been 
teasing  him  in  return.  That  will  give  her  all  the 
time  she  needs,  and  she  won't  be  all  tired  out. 
Everyone  loves  her,  and  wants  to  do  things  for  her 
and,  besides,  it  is  going  to  take  weeks  to  get  those 
rooms  fixed.  I  never  saw  grandmother  so  fussy 
over  anything  before.  She  is  going  clear  to  New 
York  and  is  going  to  take  Cita  to  select  hangings, 
and  she  has  an  artist  friend  selecting  pictures ;  that 
is,  a  list  for  Cita  to  look  over.  Grandmother  wants 
every  last  thing  to  be  Cita's  own  selection.  And, 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

girls,  it  is  going  to  be  too  lovely.  What  do  you 
think?  You  know  those  ceilings  are  about  twenty 
feet  high,  and  grandmother  has  had  them  all  low- 
ered with  plaster  board  and  beams,  so  it  looks  so 
much  cozier.  Grandmother  is  really  splendid.  I 
never  loved  her  so  much." 

"  Are  you  almost  ready  to  report?  "  demanded 
Uncle  Robert  at  the  door. 

"  All  ready !  "  said  Helen  as  the  committee  went 
skipping  in. 

"  Well,  let's  hear  the  verdict,"  said  Uncle  Robert. 
"  If  this  committee  is  as  sensible  as  it  looks,  I  ex- 
pect to  hear  them  say  that  the  date  is  set  for  next 
week  Tuesday." 

"The  fifteenth  of  February,"  said  Rosanna 
firmly. 

A  look  of  relief  spread  over  Cita's  face. 

"  Wha-a-a-t?  "  said  Uncle  Robert.  "  Impossible! 
Why,  /  named  this  committee  and  by  all  the  rules 
of  politics  you  should  have  brought  in  the  report 
I  want." 

"  But  it  wouldn't  have  been  fair,"  said  Rosanna. 

"  What  has  that  to  do  with  politics?  "  groaned 
Uncle  Robert.  "  All  right !  I  have  been  done  up ; 
sold  out,  and  by  my  own  constituents.  The  fif- 
teenth of  February  it  is.  But  don't  you  dare  to 
make  it  a  day  later,  young  ladies !  "  He  rose. 

"  Where  are  you  going?  "  asked  Rosanna. 

"Where?"  said  Uncle  Robert,  with  a  twinkle 
in  his  eye.  "  You  ask  me  where?  Well,  I  am  go- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

ing  to  drag  myself  downtown  to  get  that  Christ- 
mas present." 

"  And  now,"  said  Cita  after  he  had  gone,  "  now 
don't  let's  think  of  weddings  or  anything  else  but 
our  Scout  work.  Things  have  been  dragging  lately, 
and  I  think  it  is  my  fault.  If  we  do  not  do  better 
and  snappier  work  right  away,  I  will  know  it  is 
my  fault,  and  I  shall  give  the  troop  over  to  someone 
else.  Engaged  girls  have  no  business  trying  to  run 
a  troop." 

"Don't  say  that,  Cita,"  said  Rosanna.  "We 
have  all  been  working  so  hard  for  Christinas  that 
I  think  we  have  no  energy  left." 

"  Possibly,"  said  Cita,  "  but  we  must  put  things 
pretty  well  in  order  at  the  next  meeting,  and  before 
then  I  want  all  these  Christmas  things  marked 
and  in  their  proper  baskets.  That  meeting,  the 
last  before  the  holidays,  will  be  an  important  one." 

"  Then  let  us  go  to  work  merrilee,"  said  Elise, 
picking  up  a  stocking,  and  letting  a  gumdrop  slide 
down  into  the  toe. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

AFTER  the  usual  formalities  of  a  meeting,  Captain 
Hooker  desired  the  girls'  full  attention.  She  held 
a  formidable  sheaf  of  notes  in  her  hand,  and  it 
looked  to  the  Scouts  as  though  there  was  going 
to  be  a  good  deal  of  work  parcelled  out  to  them. 

"  In  the  first  place,"  said  their  Captain,  "  I  have 
asked  the  approval  of  the  National  Headquarter^ 
and  you  are  at  liberty  to  send  a  Thanks  badge  to 
Doctor  Branshaw.  Now  you  have  not  yet  sent  him 
any  formal  thanks  for  what  he  did  for  Gwenny  and 
I  wonder  if  any  of  you  have  an  idea  of  some  at- 
tractive way  of  expressing  your  gratitude." 

"  I  thought  of  something,  Captain,"  said  Lucy 
Breen,  "  but  perhaps  it  wouldn't  do." 

"  Let  us  hear  it,"  said  the  Captain. 

"  How  would  it  be  to  write  him,  each  of  us,  a 
short  letter  of  thanks,  just  a  few  words,  and  at  the 
top  of  each  letter  paste  a  snapshot  of  the  girl  who 
has  written  it?  Then  bind  them  all  in  a  sort  of 
cover  or  folder  with  our  motto  and  a  print  of  our 
flower  on  the  outside." 

"  I  think  that  is  simply  a  splendid  idea,"  cried 
the  Captain.  "  Don't  you  think  so,  girls?  " 

Of  course  everyone  did,  and  it  was  settled  that 
Kosanna  should  go  and  buy  the  paper  for  the  letters 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

so  they  should  all  be  alike.  As  for  the  cover.  Miss 
Hooker,  who  was  an  artist  of  more  than  ordinary 
talent  and  skill,  offered  to  illuminate  the  cover 
with  the  cornflower  as  the  motif;  and  she  decided 
to  illuminate  it  on  parchment,  with  the  deep  blue 
of  the  flowers  and  dull  gold  lettering.  The  girls 
who  had  no  snapshot  of  themselves  promised  to 
have  one  taken  at  once.  Before  they  finished,  the 
"  Thanks  Book  "  as  they  called  it,  promised  to  be- 
come a  beautiful  and  very  attractive  affair.  Miss 
Hooker  warned  them  all  to  write  natural  and 
simple  letters. 

"  How  many  of  you  have  been  over  to  see  Gwenny 
in  her  new  home?"  asked  the  Captain.  "After 
the  holidays,  I  think  it  would  be  a  very  kind  thing 
for  you  to  each  give  up  an  afternoon  once  in  so 
often  (you  can  decide  how  often  you  can  spare  the 
time),  and  go  spend  the  afternoon  with  Gwenny. 
Her  mother  feels  that  she  should  do  a  little  work 
now  and  that  faithful  little  Mary  is  taking  care 
of  a  couple  of  children  over  here  on  Third  Street 
every  afternoon,  to  earn  her  share  of  the  household 
expenses.  So  Gwenny  is  left  very  much  alone." 

"  My  mother  has  been  in  the  Norton  Infirmary 
for  a  month,"  said  one  of  the  girls,  "  and  she  said 
the  nurse  told  her  that  it  would  mean  a  great  deal 
to  some  of  these  patients  if  we  girls  would  only 
come  in  once  in  awhile,  and  talk  to  some  of  the 
patients  who  get  so  lonely.  Mother  said  there  was 
a  boy  there  with  a  broken  hip,  and  he  was  always 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

going  to  be  lame,  and  he  grieved  so  about  it  all  the 
time  that  it  kept  him  from  getting  well.  And  there 
was  another  patient,  a  girl  about  my  age,  with 
something  wrong  with  her  back.  She  is  in  a  plas- 
ter cast,  and  her  only  relative  is  a  father  who 
travels,  and  he  is  in  California." 

"  Now  there  is  an  idea  for  you  all,"  said  Miss 
Hooker.  "  I  want  to  talk  all  these  things  over 
today,  because  if  I  am  away  at  any  time  I  want  to 
feel  that  I  know  just  about  what  you  are  doing. 
I  should  think  that  it  would  do  a  lot  of  good  to 
visit  those  poor  young  people.  There  is  just  one 
thing  to  remember  if  you  want  to  be  popular  with 
the  nurses  and  helpful  to  the  patients :  always  stay 
just  a  little  shorter  time  than  you  are  expected 
to.  Then  the  nurses  feel  that  you  are  wise  enough 
to  be  trusted  without  tiring  the  patients,  and  the 
patients  are  left  with  the  desire  to  see  you  soon 
again." 

"  That  is  just  what  my  mother  said,"  said  the 
girl  who  had  spoken.  "  She  says  so  many  people 
come  who  just  stay  and  stay  and  if  the  nurse  does 
not  get  around  in  time  to  send  them  home,  why, 
they  have  the  patient  in  a  fever." 

"  Perfectly  true,"  said  Miss  Hooker.  "  Make 
your  visits  short  —  and  often.  Next,"  said  the 
Captain,  "  I  want  to  tell  you  that  Lucy  Breen  has 
passed  the  examinations  successfully  in  two  sub- 
jects. She  is  now  entitled  to  wear  the  Merit  badge 
for  Horsemanship  and  Clerk," 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

All  the  girls  clapped. 

"  Bon  bon,  dear  Lucee !  "  whispered  Elise. 

Lucy  smiled  back  at  the  dear  girl  who  had  be- 
friended her  at  a  moment  when  she  needed  a  friend 
so  badly. 

"  I  want  to  ask  how  many  of  you  girls  are  taking 
regular  exercises  every  morning?  "  asked  Captain 
Hooker.  "  It  does  not  seem  as  though  you  had  as 
good  color  as  you  should  have.  I  want  my  girls  to 
be  the  finest  looking  troop  at  the  great  meeting 
in  the  spring.  It  is  to  be  in  Washington;  did  I 
tell  you?  And  I  Haui  every  one  of  you  to  go.  Now. 
there  is  an  incentive  to  work.  The  rally  is  in  June 
just  after  school  is  over,  and  I  want  you  to  earn 
the  money  for  your  railroad  tickets.  Of  course  we 
will  all  get  special  rates,  and  it  will  not  cost  us 
anything  after  we  arrive  there,  as  we  will  be  the 
guests  of  the  Washington  Scouts,  or  some  of  the 
women's  organizations.  But  you  should  all  of  you 
be  able  to  earn  ten  dollars  before  that  time.  It 
will  take  that  much,  but  no  more.  If  any  of  you 
girls  belong  to  families  who  could  send  you,  you 
are  at  liberty  to  help  some  other  girl  who  is  less 
fortunate,  but  you  must  each  one  of  you  earn  the 
sum  I  have  mentioned." 

"  What  if  we  earn  more?  "  asked  Lucy  Breen. 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  be  glad  to  have  a  little  spend- 
ing money  when  you  get  to  Washington,"  said  Miss 
Hooker. 

"  Some  of  us  will  earn  more  and  some  less,"  said 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

Helen.  "After  we  earn  the  ten  dollars,  why 
couldn't  we  put  everything  else  we  earn  in  your 
hands,  and  then  it  could  be  evenly  divided  at  the 
end,  and  we  would  each  have  the  same  amount  to 
spend,  and  when  we  come  home  we  can  each  tell 
what  we  spent  it  for." 

"  Splendid !  "  exclaimed  Miss  Hooker.  "  What 
do  you  girls  think  of  that?  I  think  it  would  be 
quite  a  test  of  your  ability  to  get  a  good  deal  of 
pleasure  or  profit  out  of  a  stated  amount." 

Again  everybody  clapped,  and  with  a  little  more 
discussion  the  subject  was  left  settled. 

One  of  the  Webster  girls  raised  a  hand. 

"  What  would  you  suggest  that  we  could  do  to 
earn  money?  "  she  said.  "  All  we  can  do  is  dance, 
and  mamma  won't  let  us  dance  in  public  until  we 
are  grown  up.  We  don't  know  how  to  do  anything 
else." 

"  Marian,  I  get  awfully  cross  with  you  some- 
times," laughed  Miss  Hooker.  "  What  are  those 
two  merit  badges  on  your  sleeve?  " 

"  Oh,  those! "  said  Marian  in  a  helpless  voice. 
"  The  gridiron  for  Cooking  and  the  palm  leaf  for 
Invalid  Cooking.  But  I  can't  go  out  and  cook." 

"  What  can  you  make  best?  "  asked  Miss  Hooker. 

Another  girl  spoke  up..  "  She  makes  the  love- 
liest jellies  you  ever  tasted  and  they  always  stand 
right  up,  never  slump  over  at  all." 

"  And  you,  Evelyn  Webster,  what  is  that  on  your 
sleeve?  " 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

"  The  palette/'  said  Evelyn. 

"  There  you  are !  "  said  Miss  Hooker.  "  What 
is  the  good  of  earning  these  badges  if  you  are  never 
going  to  make  use  of  the  things  they  stand  for?  *• 
She  picked  up  the  Girl  Scouts  Hand  Book  that  was 
lying  on  her  lap,  and  turning  over  the  pages  said, 
"Listen  to  this: 

"  Employment. 

" '  Stick  to  it,'  the  thrush  sings.  One  of  the 
worst  weaknesses  of  many  people  is  that  they  do 
not  have  the  perseverance  to  stick  to  what  they  have 
to  do.  They  are  always  wanting  to  change.  What- 
ever you  do,  take  up  with  all  your  might  and  stick 
to  it.  Besides  the  professions  of  nursing,  teaching, 
stenography  and  typewriting  and  clerking,  there 
are  many  less  crowded  employments,  such  as  hair- 
dressing,  making  flowers,  coloring  photographs, 
and  assisting  dentists,  and  gardening.  There  are 
many  occupations  for  women,  but  before  any  new 
employment  can  be  taken  up,  one  must  begin  while 
young  to  make  plans  and  begin  collecting  informa- 
tion. '  Luck  is  like  a  street  car,  the  only  way  to 
get  it,  is  to  look  out  for  every  chance  and  seize  it 
—  run  at  it,  and  jump  on ;  don't  sit  down  and  wait 
for  it  to  pass.  Opportunity  is  a  street  car  which 
has  few  stopping  places/ 

"  Now  there  you  are,  Marian  and  Evelyn,  with 
your  jelly  and  your  beautiful  lettering.  Make 
some  of  that  jelly,  and  put  it  in  the  prettiest  glasses 
you  can  find,  and  tie  the  tops  on  with  a  little  ribbon 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

rrom  the  five-and-ten-cent  store,  and  illuminate 
some  sample  cards  for  window  displays,  and  take 
*,hem  down  to  the  Women's  Exchange.  You, 
Evelyn,  take  your  cards  to  the  manager  of  one  of 
the  big  stores,  and  ask  him  if  he  could  use  such 
work.  He  will  probably  want  a  thousand  of  them. 
I  am  glad  this  came  up.  If  you  are  all  as  helpless 
as  Evelyn  and  Marian  when  it  comes  to  using  your 
knowledge,  why,  there  is  really  not  much  use  in 
earning  merit  badges. 

"  I  think  we  will  talk  this  over  for  ten  minutes 
informally,  and  then  we  will  call  the  roll,  and  see 
what  each  one  thinks  she  can  do." 

The  Captain  turned  to  the  Lieutenant  and  com- 
menced to  talk  to  her  in  a  low  tone,  and  for  ten 
minutes  the  room  buzzed.  Then  at  the  sharp  com- 
mand of  the  Lieutenant's  whistle  silence  fell,  and 
the  roll  was  called,  and  each  girl's  chosen  task  was 
jotted  down  beside  her  name.  The  outlook  was 
rather  black  for  some  of  the  girls  who  had  chosen 
to  try  for  merits  in  unusual  rather  than  in  avail- 
able subjects.  For  instance,  one  girl  wore  badges 
for  proficiency  in  Swimming,  Signaling,  Pioneer, 
Pathfinder,  and  Marksmanship. 

None  of  these  seemed  to  offer  an  opening  for 
moneymaking,  especially  during  the  winter  months. 
But  she  was  plucky,  and  merely  said  that  she  would 
find  a  way  to  earn  the  money.  And  she  did  it  by 
going  to  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  and  assisting  the  swim- 
ming mistress  for  a  couple  of  hours  every  after' 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

noon.  So  well  did  she  do  that  when  the  money 
was  turned  in,  she  had  twenty-five  dollars  to  put 
in  the  general  fund  for  spending  money. 

Another  girl  had  a  merit  badge  for  Aviation, 
but  she  went  to  work  in  her  workshop  and  built  box 
kites  that  no  boy  could  resist,  and  sold  them  by  the 
dozen. 

As  Miss  Hooker  told  them,  the  trick  was  to  make 
use  of  what  they  had  learned.  Of  course  a  good 
deal  of  this  worked  itself  out  later,  but  when  they 
had  finished  their  discussion,  and  Miss  Hooker 
had  urged  them  to  get  to  work  as  soon  as  they 
possibly  could,  she  changed  the  subject  by  saying, 
with  just  a  little  hesitation: 

"  I  wonder  how  many  of  you  know  that  I  am  to  be 
married?" 

Every  hand  rose  and  a  voice  said,  "  But  we  don't 
know  when." 

"That  is  what  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about," 
smiled  Miss  Hooker.  "  We  are  going  to  be  mar- 
ried on  the  fifteenth  of  February,  and  I  shall  not 
have  bridesmaids  and  all  that  girls  usually  have; 
I  want  my  own  Scout  girls  as  attendants  —  all 
of  you.  Will  you  all  come?  " 

There  was  a  series  of  exclamations  of  "  Oh,  Miss 
Hooker !  "  and  "  Indeed  we  will !  " 

"  Thank  you !  "  said  Miss  Hooker,  quite  as  though 
she  was  asking  a  favor  instead  of  conferring  one. 
"  Then  I  will  depend  on  all  of  you,  and  a  little  later 
I  will  tell  you  the  plan  I  have  for  the  wedding. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

Of  course  yon  are  to  arrange  to  attend  the  recep- 
tion afterwards,  and  we  will  have  automobiles  to 
take  you  all  home." 

"  Oh,  thank  you,  thank  you !  "  chorused  the  girls. 

Miss  Hooker  found  that  after  her  invitation  it 
was  impossible  to  interest  the  girls  in  anything  in 
the  nature  of  routine  work,  so  she  soon  dismissed 
the  meeting,  and  the  girls  as  usual  piling  into  the 
automobiles  belonging  to  Rosanna  and  Elise  and 
Lucy  and  one  or  two  others,  were  driven  home  in 
a  great  state  of  excitement. 

A  Girl  Scout  wedding!  That  was  what  it 
amounted  to.  Miss  Hooker, —  their  dear  Captain, 
thought  so  much  of  them  that  she  had  chosen  them 
to  attend  her  rather  than  her  own  friends.  It  was 
thrilling  in  the  extreme. 

It  struck  about  twenty  of  them  about  the  same 
time  later,  that  there  had  been  nothing  said  about 
clothes.  This  was  an  awful  thought.  Rosanna 
seemed  likely  to  know  more  than  any  of  the  others, 
on  account  of  the  distinction  of  having  Miss  Hooker 
marry  hpr  uncle,  so  the  twenty  anxious  maidens 
rushed  co  as  many  telephones  and  gave  central  a 
very  Lad  time  for  about  an  hour,  saying  "  Line's 
busy,"  while  Rosanna  talked  to  each  one  as  she 
secured  a  clear  line,  and  assured  her  that  she  knew 
nothing  at  all  about  it. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  fifteenth  of  February  sparkled  all  day  long. 
Not  half  of  the  Scouts  were  able  to  sleep,  and  they 
saw  the  round  bright  sun  bounce  out  of  the  east 
and  start  blazing  up  in  a  cloudless  sky.  All  day 
it  was  the  same.  Not  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  not  a 
shadow  on  the  earth.  Automobile  horns  seemed 
to  take  on  a  joyous  toot.  The  heavy  "  ding,  dong, 
ding,  dong,"  of  the  locomotive  bell  as  it  crossed 
Third  Street  lost  its  mournful  tone  and  sounded 
sweetly  solemn  like  a  wedding  bell. 

All  day  relays  of  restless  Scouts  belonging  to 
Captain  Hooker's  troop  drifted  in  at  the  open  door 
of  the  beautiful  old  cathedral  and  watched  the 
silent  workmen  setting  the  palms  and  flowers  un- 
der the  direction  of  a  bevy  of  young  ladies  who  were 
Miss  Hooker's  schoolmates  and  life-long  fi  iends. 
They  had  claimed  the  right  to  decorate  the  church 
since  they  were  not  included  in  the  wedding  other 
than  as  spectators. 

Oft  twenty-four  beds  twenty^our  Girl  Scoig^d 
forms  in  a  terrifying  IHMiHfioH  &  sSarcii  Sftfl  Cleg!* 
liness  lay  stiffly  out,  with  hafe  and  staffs  beside 
them.    And  at  about  three  in  the  afternoon  twenty- 
four  Girl  Scouts  lay  down  on  other  beds,  so  they 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

would  be  "  fresh  "  for  the  wedding.  All  the  shades 
were  pulled  dowijl,  but  not  one  of  the  twenty-four 
managed  to  get  t$  sleep.  It  was  awful!  Actually 
painful !  Each  4jie  lay  wondering  ^hai  the  others 
were  doing,  an$<  what  Miss  Hooker  ^as  doing. 
Wondered  whaf  she  would  we'ar,  wondered  if  she 
was  frightenec^  JThe  two  Websters  hadjrefused  to 
rest  in  separate  rooms,  so  they  talked  in;a  cautious 
undertone,  \wnile  their  mother  in  the  next  room 
pressed  imaginary  creases  out  of  their  tunics, 
whole  troop  had  beautiful  new  hair  ribbons 
from  Mis^  Hooker  and  from  Mr.  Horton  a  beautiful 
gold  bangle  bracelet.  A  messenger  boy  had  de- 
livered them  all  abound  just  at/rioon,  and  while 
they  rested  twenty-four  left  a^nis  were  held  up  to 
catch  the  light  on  the  gleaming  band.  The  idea 
of  anyone  sleeping!  ^r 

At  six  o'clock  sharp  the  Lieutenant,  Miss  Jamie- 
son,  hurried  up  the  steps  of  the  Hargrave  house 
where  the  girls  were  to  meet,  and  ten  minutes  later 
three  patrols  marched  nervously  along  and  turned 
in.  Then  for  endless  ages,  too  nervous  to  talk,  they 
sat  waiting  for  the  automobiles  that  were  to  carry 
them  to  the  old  cathedral.  They  were  torn  with 
fears.  What  if  Mr.  Horton  and  his  best  man,  Doc- 
tor MacLaren,  had  forgotten  to  order  the  cars  at 
all?  What  if  they  should  be  late,  and  the  wedding 
go  on  without  them?  The  voice  of  Mrs.  Hargrave's 
house  boy  announcing  "  De  cahs  is  heah, 
sounded  like  music. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

The  cathedral,  down  in  the  oldest  part  of  the  city, 
seemed  a  million  miles  away,  and  the  cars  crawled. 
Not  a  traffic  policeman  but  stopped  them  as  they 
approached  —  but  at  last  they  arrived  and  entered 
the  church.  How  beaTitiful  it  was,  softly  yet  bril- 
liantly lighted  through  its  high  arches.  White 
satin  with  heavy  gold  embroideries  draping  altar 
and  desk,  tall  candles  burning  at  either  side  of  the 
Cross.  And  somewhere  softly,  thrillingly  out  of 
space,  spoke  the  most  entrancing  music. 

People  went  down  the  aisles  in  gaily  clad  groups, 
the  delicate  perfumes  of  the  flowers  worn  by  beauti- 
ful women  wafting  to  the  girls  as  they  passed. 
Mrs.  Breen's  two  brothers  and  the  brothers  of  the 
two  Girl  Scouts  who  had  helped  at  the  benefit 
were  all  acting  as  ushers  and  they  were  certainly 
busy. 

Standing  just  inside  the  door,  the  girls  were 
aware  of  a  little  stir,  and  a  group  entered,  walking 
more  slowly  and  carefully  than  the  others.  Even 
the  girls  were  surprised  as  they  stared.  For  first 
of  all  came  Gwenny,  Gwenny  leaning  heavily  on 
the  arm  of  the  kindly  sign  painter,  but  Gwenny  was 
walking! 

Behind,  looking  very  shiny  and  quite  agonized, 
followed  Mary  and  Tommy  and  little  Myron  firmly 
clutching  the  still  littler  Luella,  who  looked  on 
the  verge  of  tears.  After  them,  to  close  all  avenue 
of  escape,  walked  Mrs.  Harter,  and  Minnie  and 
Tom.  Very  slowly,  in  Gwenny's  halting  footsteps. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

they  went  down  the  aisle  —  down  and  down  until 
they  came  to  the  satin  ribbon  that  fenced  off  a 
portion  of  the  seats  for  Miss  Hooker's  most  particu- 
lar friends.  And  even  then  they  did  not  stop,  for 
Doctor  MacLaren,  who  was  with  them,  led  them 
to  the  fourth  seat  from  the  front.  It  had  evidently 
been  saved  for  them,  for  in  the  corner  next  the 
aisle  was  a  big  pillow  for  Gwenny's  back.  Cita's 
girl  friends  kept  drifting  in,  lovely,  colorful  crea- 
tures in  dancing  frocks,  and  the  girls  reflected  with 
joy  that  they  too  were  asked  to  the  reception  after- 
wards. 

Then  came  the  group  of  the  bride's  relatives,  and 
close  behind,  Mrs.  Horton,  walking  with  her  hand 
on  the  arm  of  the  older  Breen  boy,  and  looking 
like  a  queen  in  her  pale  gray  satin  robe,  brocaded 
with  silver. 

And  then  the  Lieutenant,  who  had  been  standing 
outside  all  this  time,  returned,  looking  quite  pale, 
and  gave  an  order  in  a  tone  so  low  that  half  of  the 
girls  did  not  hear  at  all,  but  they  were  so  keyed 
up  that  they  knew  just  what  to  do  and  formed  a 
double  line  facing  the  chancel. 

The  music  burst  suddenly,  joyously  into  the  Wed- 
ding March,  and  the  girls  started  slowly  down  the 
broad  aisle,  keeping  step  to  the  music.  So  smoothly 
and  so  quickly  had  it  been  done  that  they  had  not 
had  a  glimpse  of  the  bride,  who  was  following 
them  on  her  father's  arm,  with  Rosanna  all  in 
white  before  her  as  maid  of  honor. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  KALLY 

Down  the  aisle,  straight  and  trim,  marched  the 
Guard  of  Honor.  When  the  first  two  girls  reached 
the  foot  of  the  chancel  steps,  they  stopped  and 
turned  to  face  each  other,  taking  two  steps  back- 
ward. As  the  line  all  formed,  the  staffs  were  raised 
until  the  tips  met,  and  under  this  arch,  all  misty 
tulle  and  gleaming  satin,  her  cheeks  faintly  flushed, 
her  lips  softly  smiling,  passed  their  little  Captain. 
Mr.  Robert  who  had  been  waiting  just  beyond  came 
forward  and  took  her  hand,  and  the  Dean  stepped 
down  to  meet  them,  while  the  Bishop  waited  before 
the  altar. 

The  music  muted.  And  in  the  place  of  the  march 
came  faint  sighs  of  melody.  Then  in  a  pause  of  the 
ceremony,  from  somewhere  silvery  chimes  rang  out. 
The  little  bride  stood  motionless,  her  tulle  train 
seeming  to  melt  into  the  whiteness  of  the  marble 
on  which  she  stood. 

And  then,  almost  at  once  it  seemed,  it  was  all 
over.  The  little  Captain  had  made  her  new  vows, 
the  ring  was  on  her  hand,  the  blessing  on  her  bowed 
head.  Quite  solemnly  Mr.  Robert  kissed  her,  then 
the  organ  broke  out  with  a  burst  that  filled  the 
great  church,  and  fairly  beat  down  the  rising 
throngs,  as  the  married  couple,  passing  under  the 
crossed  staves,  passed  down  the  aisle  and  out  into 
their  new  life. 

The  Guard  of  Honor,  in  their  automobiles  once 
more  and  whirling  after  the  bridal  car  to  the  recep- 
tion, found  their  tongues  and  all  talked  at  once. 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

No  one  listened ;  no  one  cared.  They  went  through 
a  canopied,  carpeted  tunnel  across  the  sidewalk 
to  the  house,  and  there  were  firmly  handled  by  a 
bevy  of  colored  maids  who  took  their  staffs  and 
hats  and  sent  them  forth  with  nothing  to  do  with 
their  hands.  But  Mr.  Robert  shook  all  the  hands 
they  had,  and  the  little  Captain  kissed  them  each 
and  every  one.  And  then  she  asked  them  to  form 
just  back  of  her  until  she  had  greeted  all  the  guests. 
This  took  a  long  time,  but  was  such  fun,  because 
they  saw  everyone  and  all  the  dresses,  and  every- 
thing. 

But  finally  the  line  thinned  out,  the  congratula- 
tions were  over,  and  the  little  Captain,  taking  her 
filmy  train  over  her  arm,  drifted  out  among  the 
guests  and  the  girls  broke  up  into  groups.  A  little 
later  Rosanna  came  hurrying  around  to  tell  the 
girls  to  come  to  the  library.  They  found  the  Cap- 
tain and  her  husband  there,  talking  to  a  chubby, 
smiling,  altogether  kindly  and  delightful  little 
gentleman,  who  stared  beamingly  at  them  through 
immense  horn-rimmed  spectacles. 

"  I  want  to  present  you  to  Doctor  Branshaw, 
girls/'  said  Mrs.  Horton.  "  He  came  all  the  way 
from  Cincinnati  to  attend  our  wedding  and  to  meet 
you." 

The  girls  stepped  up  one  by  one  to  be  presented 
to  the  great  man. 

"  I  didn't  see  any  other  way  of  meeting  you  all," 
he  said.  "  My  time  is  always  so  broken,  and  they 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  BALLY 

keep  me  so  busy  down  there  that  I  actually  didn't 
have  time  to  write  and  tell  you  how  greatly  I  appre- 
ciated that  book  you  sent  me.  I  think  it  was  quite 
the  nicest  thing  in  the  world.  I  shall  always  keep 
it." 

"It  was  poor  thanks  for  what  you  did  for 
Gwenny,"  said  Miss  Jamieson,  finding  that  some- 
one had  to  answer. 

"  I  was  glad  to  do  it,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  after 
you  had  led  the  way.  It  is  an  honor  to  work  with 
the  Girl  Scouts.  When  you  are  twice  as  old,  yes, 
three  times  as  old  as  you  are  now,  you  will  realize 
what  a  wonderful  work  you  are  doing  in  the  world. 
I  come  across  evidences  of  it  every  day.  This 
Gwenny,  for  instance.  Did  you  see  the  way  she 
went  down  that  long  aisle  tonight?  Why,  that  girl 
is  going  to  be  well,  perfectly  well!  Think  of  the 
years  of  pain  and  misery  you  have  saved  her,  the 
agonizing  nights  and  the  untimely  death.  Whose 
plan  was  it,  anyway?  " 

"  Rosanna  Horton's,"  said  half  a  dozen  voices. 

Rosanna  flushed.  "  No,  don't  say  that !  "  she  ob- 
jected. "It  is  just  as  the  doctor  says.  If  I 
thought  of  it  it  was  because  I  am  a  Scout.  Call 
it  the  Girl  Scouts'  Plan." 

"  Yours  or  theirs,  Miss  Rosanna ;  it  was  a  divine 
thought  and  should  make  you  all  happy.  You  have 
given  the  three  greatest  boons  to  a  fellow  creature, 
life,  health,  and  happiness,  and  all  because  your 


THiD  GIKL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

splendid  order  teaches  you  to  watch  for  just  such 
opportunities.  Now  I  will  give  you  an  opportunity 
to  do  a  good  deed  tonight,"  and  he  laughed  the 
jolliest  laugh.  "  There  are  a  couple  of  very  wise 
gentlemen  here  tonight,  who  would  like  to  talk  to 
me,  and  they  would  want  to  talk  about  operations 
and  anesthetics  and  all  those  things  that  I  left 
locked  up  in  my  office  at  home.  But  I  can't  tell 
them  that,  so  I  wish  you  could  just  look  after  me 
for  the  next  hour,  and  sort  of  beau  me  around,  you 
know,  and  if  you  see  any  bald  heads  or  spectacles 
bearing  down  on  us,.just  close  in  and  protect  me." 

"  Oh,  we  will ! "  chorused  the  girls,  greatly 
pleased. 

So  the  great  Dr.  Branshaw,  quite  the  greatest 
and  most  eminent  man  present,  passed  happily 
from  room  to  room  surrounded  and  tagged  by  a 
chatting,  smiling  throng  of  uniformed  girls. 

When  a  cheering  looking  line  of  waiters  appeared 
with  plates  and  napkins,  the  great  man  and  his 
little  court  settled  in  a  cozy  nook  and  proceeded 
to  fly  in  the  face  of  all  the  best  health  experts. 
And  to  see  the  Doctor  shamelessly  send  for  more 
bouillon,  and  consume  sandwiches,  and  sliced  tur- 
key, and  candied  sweet  potato  and  salad,  and  oh, 
dear,  all  sorts  of  things,  was  enough  to  make  any 
Scout  hungry,  and  they  just  feasted  and  feasted. 

Although  the  doctor  refused  to  talk  to  the  wise 
men,  he  did  talk  to  the  girls,  getting  on  the  sub- 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

ject  dearest  to  him,  as  all  professional  men  will, 
and  telling  them  many  an  amusing  story  and  pa- 
thetic incident. 

Finally  he  rose.  "  I  must  go,  girls,"  he  said. 
"  I  said  good-bye  to  Mrs.  Horton  when  I  came  in,  so 
I  could  just  slip  out  a  little  side  door  there  is  here." 

He  shook  hands  all  around  and  patted  each 
straight  shoulder.  "  Don't  forget  me,"  he  said, 
"and  remember  if  there  is  anything  I  can  do  to 
help,  we  are  all  working  together.  See  this?  "  He 
smiled  and  pulled  aside  his  coat.  There  on  his 
waistcoat  was  the  Thanks  Badge  they  had  sent  him. 
"  I  always  wear  it,"  he  said,  and  with  a  merry  good- 
bye hurried  through  the  little  door,  and  was  gone. 

Rosanna  went  to  the  hall  and  looked  out. 

"  Hurry,  hurry !  "  she  called.  "  Here  she  comes ! 
We  nearly  missed  her !  " 

The  bride,  in  her  travelling  dress,  was  coming 
down  the  stairs.  She  paused  on  the  landing  and 
looked  down  at  the  sea  of  smiling  faces  below. 
Then  suddenly  she  tossed  her  bouquet  out.  A 
dozen  hands  reached  for  it,  and  the  girl  who  caught 
it  danced  up  and  down.  Everyone  laughed. 

"  What  did  she  do  that  for?  "  asked  one  of  the 
Websters. 

"  The  one  who  catches  the  bride's  bouquet,"  said 
Miss  Jamieson,  "  will  be  the  next  one  married." 

"  Quick !  "  cried  Elise.  "  Let  us  all  form  the 
guard-line  for  her.  Never  mind  those  staves !  " 

Slipping  through  the  throng  and  out  the  door,  the 


THE  GIKL  SCOUTS  EALLY 

girls  formed  a  double  line  to  the  automobile  wait- 
ing at  the  curb.  A  great  white  bow  was  tied  on 
the  back,  and  Rosanna  quickly  took  it  off  and  hid  it. 
"  Cita  wouldn't  like  that,"  she  explained.  Then 
she  stood  with  her  hand  on  the  door.  The  house 
door  opened  and  in  a  blaze  of  light,  confetti  and 
rice  showering  about  her,  rose  leaves  floating  above 
her,  the  little  bride  and  her  tall  young  husband 
ran  down  the  steps  and  through  the  double  line 
of  Scouts,  who  closed  solidly  before  the  door  of 
the  limousine  as  she  entered  it.  The  other  guests 
were  shut  out.  For  that  moment  she  was  again 
their  little  Captain  and  belonged  to  them  alone. 
Forming  in  a  solid  group,  they  suddenly  shouted 
the  Girl  Scout  yell,  threw  her  a  shower  of  kisses, 
and  crying  .good-bye  over  and  over,  watched  her 
little  hand  wave  a  farewell  as  the  car  sprang  for- 
ward. 

Helen  and  Elise  were  Rosanna's  guests  for  the 
night.  A  couch  had  been  prepared  so  the  three 
girls  could  sleep  in  the  same  room.  They  rolled 
themselves  up  in  bathrobes,  and  sat  on  the  edge 
of  the  couch  just  as  they  had  sat  on  the  top  step 
so  many  months  ago,  only  this  time  Elise  did  not 
knit.  She  too  sat  with  her  chin  in  her  hands,  star- 
ing out  of  the  window.  Rosanna  had  snapped  off 
the  light.  A  million  stars  in  a  deep  frosty  sky 
looked  down  on  them.  The  night  sparkled.  It  was 
very,  very  late,  but  Mrs.  Horton  with  surpassing 


THE  GIRL  SCOUTS  RALLY 

wisdom  had  not  asked  them  to  go  right  to  bed. 
She  too  was  awake,  dreaming  long  dreams. 

Presently  Elise  spoke.  "  So  much  of  happiness 
makes  me  sad/'  she  said. 

"  Well,  it  is  all  over,"  sighed  Rosanna. 

"Not  at  all!"  cried  Elise.  "What  could  be 
over?  Not  Meeses  Horton,  who  is  just  beginning. 
Not  us,  who  have  so  many,  many  works  to  do.  Not 
Gwenny  who  steps  into  a  new  life.  Just  see  all 
those  stars.  They  shine  and  sparkle  always,  no 
matter  what  goes  on  down  here." 

"  You  sound  like  a  little  sermon,  Elise  dear," 
said  Helen,  smiling. 

"  I  don't  know  just  yet  what  it  is  you  call  ser 
mon,  but  I  hope  it  is  nice,"  replied  Elise. 

"  Yours  is,  anyway,"  said  Rosanna,  kissing  the 
fair  face  beside  her." 

"  All  I  meant  was  that  this  is  over,  the  wedding 
and  all  that.  Oh,  of  course  I  didn't  mean  that 
everything  was  over.  It  is  just  as  though  a  beau- 
tiful day  had  ended,  as  it  has,"  Rosanna  continued. 
"  Others  will  come,  many,  many  other  busy,  beauti- 
ful days,  and  on  my  honor,  I  will  try  to  do  my  duty 
to  God  and  my  country,  to  help  other  people  at 
all  times  and  to  obey  the  Scout  laws,"  said  Rosanna 
softly,  lifting  her  eyes  to  the  eternal  stars. 

THE   END 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 


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